Privacy Act Systems - DOL/ESA-52
SYSTEM NAME:
Wage-Hour Financial Accounting System (WFAS).
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
None.
SYSTEM LOCATION:
Wage-Hour Division (WHD) national office, and regional/sub-regional offices.
CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
All persons who receive payment from, or who owe a payment to, agency/regional offices through one of two financial systems (Back Wage Disbursement and Collection System or the Civil Money Penalty System). These persons are as follows:
a. Persons receiving payments include, but are not limited to: employees; and third parties acting on behalf of employees.
b. Persons owing monies include, but are not limited to: employers who owe a debt due to the Government as a result of violations of one or more of the laws enforced by the WHD; persons who have been overpaid; and persons who owe the Department a refund.
CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Name, identification number (Taxpayer Identification Number or other identifying number), Social Security Number, address, purpose of payment, accounting classification, amount to be paid, withholdings, and amount paid.
AUTHORITY FOR THE MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
5 U.S.C. 301.
PURPOSE(S):
These records are an integral part of the WHD accounting systems at principal operating components, agency regional and sub-regional offices. The records are used to keep track of all WHD payments due to individuals, as well as those due from employers to the Federal Government. When an accounts receivable is established, these records regarding employers are used as part of collection actions. The employee records are used to attempt to locate an employee for purposes of distributing back wages to that employee on behalf of the employer. In event of an overpayment to an individual, the record is used to establish a receivable record for recovery of the amount claimed. The records are also used internally to develop reports to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and applicable State and local taxing officials of taxable income. This is a component-wide notice of payment and collection activities.
ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES OF USERS AND THE PURPOSE OF SUCH USES:
In addition to those universal routine uses contained in the General Prefatory Statement to this document, the following disclosures are permitted:
a. Transmittal of the records to the United States Treasury to effect issuance of payments to payees.
b. Pursuant to § 13 of the Debt Collection Act of 1982, the name, address(es), telephone number(s), Social Security Number, and nature, amount and history of debts of an individual may be disclosed to private debt collection agencies for the purpose of collecting or compromising a debt existing in this system.
c. Information may be forwarded to the Department of Justice as prescribed in the Joint Federal Claims Collection Standards (31 CFR Parts 900 through 904) for the purpose of determining the feasibility of enforced collection, and by referring the cases to the Department of Justice for litigation.
d. Pursuant to §§ 5 and 10 of the Debt Collection Act of 1982, as amended by the Debt Collection Improvement Act of 1996, information relating to the implementation of the Debt Collection Act of 1982 may be disclosed to other Federal agencies to effect salary or administrative offsets.
e. Information contained in the system of records may be disclosed to the IRS to obtain taxpayer mailing addresses for the purpose of locating such taxpayer to collect, compromise, or write off a Federal claim against the taxpayer.
f. Information may be disclosed to the IRS concerning the discharge of an indebtedness owed by an individual.
g. Information may be disclosed to the Social Security Administration informing them of taxable income.
h. Information may be disclosed to State and local taxing officials informing them of taxable income.
POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORING, RETRIEVING, ACCESSING, RETAINING, AND DISPOSING OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
Files are stored electronically and/or on paper.
RETRIEVABILITY:
This varies according to the particular operating accounting system within the operating division, agency and regional office. Usually hard copy documents are retrieved by case identification number. Computer records are retrieved by employee last name, as well as case identification number, employer name, Social Security Number, or on any field in the record.
SAFEGUARDS:
Access by authorized personnel only. Computer security safeguards are used for electronically stored data and locked locations for paper files.
RETENTION AND DISPOSAL:
Records pertaining to the collection and payment of back wages are maintained in hard copy form in the regional and sub-regional offices for one year after closing. They are then transferred to the Federal Records Center for storage; they are retained there for six years and three months and then are destroyed. Hard copy records of Civil Money Penalty payments are transmitted back to the district offices for inclusion in the regular investigation file. Automated records are closed but available on the system once the case balance has reached $0. These records will eventually be destroyed after six years and three months, but prior to destruction, they are maintained in readable form to facilitate tax inquiries from employees and employers.
SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
Administrator, Wage-Hour Division, Room S-3502,
Frances Perkins Building, 200 Constitution Avenue, N.W.,
Washington, D.C. 20210.
NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE:
Inquiries should be mailed or presented to the system manager noted at the address listed above.
RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
A request for access shall be addressed to the system manager at the address listed above.
CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
A petition for amendment shall be addressed to the System Manager.
RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Individuals, employees, employers, other Federal agencies, Government contractors.
SYSTEMS EXEMPTED FROM CERTAIN PROVISIONS OF THE ACT:
None.