[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 234 (Friday, December 5, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64408-64409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31906]
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RAILROAD RETIREMENT BOARD
Privacy Act of 1974; Proposed Changes To Systems of Records
AGENCY: Railroad Retirement Board.
ACTION: Notice of proposed change to a system of records.
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SUMMARY: The purpose of this document is to give notice of a proposed
routine use in one system of records and an addition to the categories
of records in the same system.
DATES: The amendment to the categories of records shall become
effective as proposed without further notice in 40 calendar days from
the date of this publication unless OMB approves the RRB request for
waiver of the 40-day advanced notice requirement for new or altered
system reports, in which case the altered system, with the exception of
the proposed routine use, will become effective as of the date the
waiver is granted. The routine use will be effective not earlier than
30 calendar days from the date of this publication unless comments are
received before this date which would result in a contrary
determination.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Beatrice Ezerski, Secretary to the Board,
Railroad Retirement Board, 844 North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois
60611-2092.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
LeRoy Blommaert, Privacy Act Officer, Railroad Retirement Board, 844
North Rush Street, Chicago, Illinois 60611-2092, (312) 751-4548.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Since 1938, the Railroad Retirement Board
(RRB) has provided current railroad workers with a yearly statement of
their commulative service and compensation. (This information is
contained in Privacy Act System of Records RRB-5, Master File of
Employees Creditable Compensation.) For many years, the statements were
mailed to the railroad employers for distribution to their workers.
Beginning in 1985 railroad employers were given the option of
furnishing the RRB with address information for their employees, in
which case, the RRB would mail the statements to the employees. In
time, all of the Class I (large) railroads, which account for over 80%
of railroad workers, plus many of the medium-size railroads elected
this option, so that today the RRB mails over 96 percent of the service
and compensation statements directly to the rail employees.
Originally, address information furnished by the railroad employer
was kept in computerized tape format for 1 year until the following
year's submissions from railroad employers. Beginning in 1994, the RRB
began to retain the address information in an on-line environment, so
that it could be accessed by computer terminal along with various
service and compensation data about a particular employee.
The proposed routine use (``q'' for RRB-5) would authorize the RRB
to disclose to a Member of Congress the name and address of a Member's
railroad worker constituent in order that the Member could communicate
with him or her about legislation affecting the railroad retirement or
unemployment/sickness insurance system.
The Railroad Retirement Board has determined that this proposed
routine use meets the compatibility requirement because it is a
necessary and proper use. The RRB previously published routine uses
allowing disclosure of name and address information of retirement
annuitants and unemployment and sickness claimants to Members of
Congress (RRB-21, ``x''; RRB-22, ``ff''). Thus, publication of this
proposed routine use would bring this system of records into conformity
with the other two main systems of records containing name and address
information with respect to disclosure to Members of Congress for the
same purpose.
On November 17, 1997, the Railroad Retirement Board filed an
altered system report for this system with the chairmen of the
designated Senate and House committees and with the Office of
Management and Budget. This was done to comply with Section 3 of the
Privacy Act of 1974 and OMB Circular No. A-130, Appendix I.
By Authority of the Board.
Beatrice Ezerski,
Secretary to the Board.
RRB-5
System name:
Master File of Railroad Employees' Creditable Compensation--RRB
* * * * *
This section is revised to read as follows:
Categories of records in the system:
Individual name, social security number, claim number, date of
birth, sex, race, last employer identification number, amount of daily
pay rate if under $100, ICC occupation code, creditable service and
compensation from 1937 to date, and home address.
* * * * *
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
* * * * *
A new paragraph ``q'' is added to read as follows:
q. The name and address of a railroad worker may be released to a
Member of Congress when the Member requests it
[[Page 64409]]
in order that he or she may communicate with the worker about
legislation which affects the railroad retirement or railroad
unemployment and sickness insurance program.
[FR Doc. 97-31906 Filed 12-4-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7905-01-M
