Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

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Published

October 27, 2021

Effective

December 1, 2021

Issuing agencies

Personnel Management Office

Abstract

In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposes to establish a new system of records titled, "OPM/Internal--25 Reasonable Accommodations Records." This system of records will include information that OPM collects and maintains on applicants for employment and employees who request and/or receive reasonable accommodations from OPM for medical or religious reasons.

Full Text

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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 205 (Wednesday, October 27, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 27, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59435-59437]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-23347]

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OFFICE OF PERSONNEL MANAGEMENT

Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Office of Personnel Management.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM) proposes to establish a new system of
records titled, ``OPM/Internal--25 Reasonable Accommodations Records.''
This system of records will include information that OPM collects and
maintains on applicants for employment and employees who request and/or
receive reasonable accommodations from OPM for medical or religious
reasons.

DATES: Submit comments on or before November 26, 2021. This new system
is effective upon publication in the Federal Register, except for the
routine uses, which are effective December 1, 2021.

ADDRESSES: You may submit written comments through the Federal
Rulemaking Portal: <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a>. All submissions received
must include the agency name and docket number for this Federal
Register document. The general policy for comments and other
submissions from members of the public is to make them available for
public viewing on the internet at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">http://www.regulations.gov</a> as they
are received without change, including any personal identifiers or
contact information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions, please contact:
Carmen Garcia, Deputy Chief Human Capital Officer, OPM Human Resources,
Office of Personnel Management, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#327d717a717d00725d425f1c555d44">[email&#160;protected]</a>. For privacy
questions, please contact: Kellie Cosgrove Riley, Chief Privacy
Officer, Office of Personnel Management, at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cdbdbfa4bbacaeb48da2bda0e3aaa2bb">[email&#160;protected]</a> or call
202-360-6065. Please put ``Reasonable Accommodations SORN'' in the
subject line of your email.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
In accordance with the Privacy Act of 1974, the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) proposes to establish a new system of records titled,
``OPM/Internal--25, Reasonable Accommodations Records.'' This system of
records covers OPM's collection and maintenance of records on
applicants for employment, employees, and other individuals who
participate in OPM programs or activities who request or receive
reasonable accommodations or other appropriate modifications from OPM
for medical or religious reasons.
Title V of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, prohibits
discrimination in services and employment on the basis of disability,
and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1974 prohibits discrimination,
including on the basis of religion. These prohibitions on
discrimination require Federal agencies to provide reasonable
accommodations to individuals with disabilities and those with
sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue
hardship. In some instances, individuals may request modifications to
their workspace, schedule, duties, or other requirements for documented
medical reasons that may not qualify as a disability but may
necessitate an appropriate modification to workplace policies and
practices. OPM may address those requests pursuant to the general
authority of the Director contained in Title V of the United States
Code.
Reasonable accommodations may include, but are not limited to:
Making existing facilities readily accessible to individuals with
disabilities; restructuring jobs, modifying work schedules or places of
work, and providing flexible scheduling for medical appointments or
religious observance; acquiring or modifying equipment or examinations
or training materials; providing qualified readers and interpreters,
personal assistants, service animals; granting permission to wear
religious dress, hairstyles, or facial hair or to observe a religious
prohibition against wearing certain garments; considering requests for
medical and religious exemptions to specific workplace requirements;
and making other modifications to workplace policies and practices.
OPM's Office of Human Resources and OPM's Human Resource Solutions
program process requests for reasonable accommodations from employees
and applicants for employment, respectively, who require an
accommodation due to a medical or religious reason; OPM's Human
Resources also processes requests based on documented medical reasons
that may not qualify as a disability but that necessitate an
appropriate modification to workplace policies and practices. Other OPM
offices may also receive such requests related to programs or
activities for which they are responsible. The request, documentation
provided in support of the request, any evaluation conducted
internally, or by a third party under contract to OPM, the decision
regarding whether to grant or deny a request, and the details and
conditions of the reasonable accommodation are all included in this
system of records.
OPM has provided a report of this system of records to the
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform of the House of
Representatives, the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs of the Senate, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB),
pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(r) and OMB Circular A-108, ``Federal Agency
Responsibilities for Review, Reporting, and Publication under the
Privacy Act,'' dated December 23, 2016. This system will be included in
the OPM inventory of record systems.

[[Page 59436]]

U.S. Office of Personnel Management.
Alexys Stanley,
Regulatory Affairs Analyst.

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
Office of Personnel Management, OPM/Internal--25 Reasonable
Accommodations Records

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
Records are maintained primarily by the Office of Personnel
Management's Human Resources Office, 1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC
20415, and by the Human Resource Solutions Office, Office of Personnel
Management, 4685 Log Cabin Dr., Macon, GA. Records may be located in
locked cabinets and offices, on OPM's local area network, or in
designated U.S. data centers for FedRAMP-authorized cloud service
providers.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
Chief Human Capital Officer, U.S. Office of Personnel Management,
1900 E Street NW, Washington, DC 20415, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#2e616d666d611c6e415e4300494158">[email&#160;protected]</a>.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, 29 U.S.C. 701, 791, 794; Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. 2000e; 29 CFR 1605
(Guidelines on Discrimination Because of Religion); 29 CFR 1614
(Federal Sector Equal Employment Opportunity); 29 CFR 1614 (Regulations
to Implement the Equal Employment Provisions of the Americans With
Disabilities Act); 5 U.S.C. 302, 1103; Executive Order 13164, Requiring
Federal Agencies to Establish Procedures to Facilitate the Provision of
Reasonable Accommodation (July 26, 2000); and Executive Order 13548,
Increasing Federal Employment of Individuals with Disabilities (July
26, 2010).

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
The purpose of this system of records is to allow OPM to collect
and maintain records on applicants for employment, employees, and other
individuals who participate in OPM programs or activities who request
or receive reasonable accommodations or other appropriate modifications
from OPM for medical or religious reasons; to process, evaluate, and
make decisions on individual requests; and to track and report the
processing of such requests OPM-wide to comply with applicable
requirements in law and policy.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
Applicants for Federal employment, Federal employees, and visitors
to Federal buildings who requested and/or received reasonable
accommodations or other appropriate modifications from OPM for medical
or religious reasons.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
<bullet> Requester's name;
<bullet> Requester's status (applicant or current employee);
<bullet> Date of request;
<bullet> Employee's position title, grade, series, step;
<bullet> Position title, grade, series, step of the position the
requester is applying for;
<bullet> Requester's contact information (addresses, phone numbers,
and email addresses);
<bullet> Description of the requester's medical condition or
disability and any medical documentation provided in support of the
request;
<bullet> Requester's statement of a sincerely held religious belief
and any additional information provided concerning that religious
belief and the need for an accommodation to exercise that belief;
<bullet> Description of the accommodation being requested;
<bullet> Description of previous requests for accommodation;
<bullet> Whether the request was made orally or in writing;
<bullet> Documentation by an OPM official concerning whether the
disability is obvious, and the accommodation is obvious and
uncomplicated, whether medical documentation is required to evaluate
the request, whether research is necessary regarding possible
accommodations, and any extenuating circumstances that prevent the OPM
official from meeting the relevant timeframe;
<bullet> Whether the request for reasonable accommodation was
granted or denied, and if denied the reason for the denial;
<bullet> The amount of time taken to process the request;
<bullet> The sources of technical assistance consulted in trying to
identify a possible reasonable accommodation;
<bullet> Any reports or evaluations prepared in determining whether
to grant or deny the request; and
<bullet> Any other information collected or developed in connection
with the request for a reasonable accommodation.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
Information is obtained from the individuals who request and/or
receive a reasonable accommodation or other appropriate modification
from OPM, directly or indirectly from an individual's medical provider
or another medical professional who evaluates the request, directly or
indirectly from an individual's religious or spiritual advisors or
institutions, and from management officials.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
In addition to those disclosures generally permitted under 5 U.S.C.
552a(b) of the Privacy Act, all or a portion of the records or
information contained in this system may be disclosed outside OPM as a
routine use pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552a(b)(3) as follows:
a. To the Department of Justice, including Offices of the U.S.
Attorneys; another Federal agency conducting litigation or in
proceedings before any court, adjudicative, or administrative body;
another party in litigation before a court, adjudicative, or
administrative body; or to a court, adjudicative, or administrative
body. Such disclosure is permitted only when it is relevant or
necessary to the litigation or proceeding, and one of the following is
a party to the litigation or has an interest in such litigation:
(1) OPM, or any component thereof;
(2) Any employee or former employee of OPM in his or her official
capacity;
(3) Any employee or former employee of OPM in his or her capacity
where the Department of Justice or OPM has agreed to represent the
employee;
(4) The United States, a Federal agency, or another party in
litigation before a court, adjudicative, or administrative body, upon
the OPM General Counsel's approval, pursuant to 5 CFR part 295 or
otherwise.
b. To the appropriate Federal, State, or local agency responsible
for investigating, prosecuting, enforcing, or implementing a statute,
rule, regulation, or order, when a record, either on its face or in
conjunction with other information, indicates or is relevant to a
violation or potential violation of civil or criminal law or
regulation.
c. To a member of Congress from the record of an individual in
response to an inquiry made at the request of the individual to whom
the record pertains.
d. To the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for
records management inspections being conducted under the authority of
44 U.S.C. 2904 and 2906.
e. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when (1) OPM
suspects or has confirmed that there has been a breach of the system of
records; (2) OPM has determined that as a result of the

[[Page 59437]]

suspected or confirmed breach, there is a risk of harm to individuals,
OPM (including its information systems, programs, and operations), the
Federal Government, or national security; and (3) the disclosure made
to such agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to
assist in connection with OPM's efforts to respond to the suspected or
confirmed breach or to prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
f. To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when OPM determines
that information from this system of records is reasonably necessary to
assist the recipient agency or entity in (1) responding to a suspected
or confirmed breach or (2) preventing, minimizing, or remedying the
risk of harm to individuals, the recipient agency or entity (including
its information systems, programs, and operations), the Federal
Government, or national security, resulting from a suspected or
confirmed breach.
g. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, or volunteers
performing or working on a contract, service, grant, cooperative
agreement, or other assignment for OPM when OPM determines that it is
necessary to accomplish an agency function related to this system of
records. Individuals provided information under this routine use are
subject to the same Privacy Act requirements and limitations on
disclosure as are applicable to OPM employees.
h. To another federal agency or commission with responsibility for
labor or employment relations or other issues, including equal
employment opportunity and reasonable accommodation issues, when that
agency or commission has jurisdiction over reasonable accommodation.
i. To an authorized appeal grievance examiner, formal complaints
examiner, administrative judge, equal employment opportunity
investigator, arbitrator, or other duly authorized official engages in
investigation or settlement of a grievance, complaint, or appeal filed
by an individual who requested a reasonable accommodation or other
appropriate modification.
j. To another Federal agency, including but not limited to the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Office of Special
Counsel to obtain advice regarding statutory, regulatory, policy, and
other requirements related to reasonable accommodation.
k. To a Federal agency or entity authorized to procure assistive
technologies and services in response to a request for reasonable
accommodation.
l. To first aid and safety personnel if the individual's medical
condition requires emergency treatment.
m. To another Federal agency or oversight body charged with
evaluating OPM's compliance with the laws, regulations, and policies
governing reasonable accommodation requests.
n. To another Federal agency pursuant to a written agreement with
OPM to provide services (such as medical evaluations), when necessary,
in support of reasonable accommodation decisions.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
The records in this system of records are stored electronically on
OPM's local area network or with FedRAMP-authorized cloud service
providers segregated from non-government traffic and data, with access
limited to a small number of personnel. In addition, paper records are
stored in locked file cabinets in access-restricted offices.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
Records may be retrieved by name or other unique personal
identifiers.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
Records in this system of records are maintained in accordance with
GRS 2.3 and are destroyed three years after separation from the agency
or all appeals are concluded, whichever is later, but longer retention
is authorized if requested for business use.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
Records in the system are protected from unauthorized access and
misuse through various administrative, technical, and physical security
measures. OPM security measures are in compliance with the Federal
Information Security Modernization Act (Pub. L. 113-283), associated
Office of Management and Budget policies, and applicable standards and
guidance from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Strict controls have been imposed to minimize the risk of compromising
the information that is stored. Access to the paper and electronic
records in this system of records is limited to those individuals who
have a need to know the information for the performance of their
official duties and who have appropriate clearances or permissions.

RECORDS ACCESS PROCEDURES:
Individuals seeking notification of and access to their records in
this system of records may submit a request in writing to the U.S.
Office of Personnel Management, Office of Privacy and Information
Management--FOIA, 1900 E Street NW, Room: 5H35, Washington, DC 20415-
7900, ATTN: OPM HR; or by emailing <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#e98f868088a9869984c78e869f">[email&#160;protected]</a>. Individuals must
furnish the following information for their records to be located:
1. Full name.
2. Signature.
3. The reason why the individual believes this system contains
information about him/her.
4. The address to which the information should be sent.
Individuals requesting access must also comply with OPM's Privacy
Act regulations regarding verification of identity and access to
records (5 CFR 297).

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
Individuals wishing to request amendment of records about them
contained in this system of records may do so by writing to the U.S.
Office of Personnel Management, Office of Privacy and Information
Management--FOIA, 1900 E Street NW, Room: 5H35, Washington, DC 20415-
7900, ATTN: OPM HR; or by emailing <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#9bfdf4f2fadbf4ebf6b5fcf4ed">[email&#160;protected]</a>. Requests for amendment
of records should include the words ``PRIVACY ACT AMENDMENT REQUEST''
in capital letters at the top of the request letter or in the subject
line of the email. Individuals must furnish the following information
for their records to be located:
1. Full name.
2. Signature.
3. Precise identification of the information to be amended.
Individuals requesting amendment must also comply with OPM's
Privacy Act regulations regarding verification of identity and access
to records (5 CFR 297).

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
See ``Record Access Procedure.''

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
None.

HISTORY:
None.

[FR Doc. 2021-23347 Filed 10-26-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6325-45-P

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