[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 133 (Monday, July 13, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37562-37563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-18571]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Hearings and Appeals
Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of May
18 Through May 22, 1998
During the week of May 18 through May 22, 1998, the decisions and
orders summarized below were issued with respect to appeals,
applications, petitions, or other requests filed with the Office of
Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy. The following summary
also contains a list of submissions that were dismissed by the Office
of Hearings and Appeals.
Copies of the full text of these decisions and orders are available
in the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals, 950
L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC, Monday through Friday, except
federal holidays. They are also available in Energy Management: Federal
Energy Guidelines, a commercially published loose leaf reporter system.
Some decisions and orders are available on the Office of Hearings and
Appeals World Wide Web site at http://www.oha.doe.gov.
Dated: July 6, 1998.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Decision List No. 86; Week of May 18 Through May 22, 1998
Appeals
James E. Minter, 5/18/98, VFA-0406
James E. Minter filed an Appeal from a determination issued to him
by the Albuquerque Operations of the Department of Energy (DOE) in
response to a Request for Information submitted under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA). Mr. Minter's request sought records of overtime
payments to a DOE employee who, as allegedly part of his job
requirements, may have engaged in
[[Page 37563]]
physical fitness training while on official travel. The Albuquerque
Operations Office identified a trip report and a time-card as
responsive to the request, but withheld the information on personal
grounds under FOIA Exemption 6. In considering the Appeal, the DOE
determined that absent special circumstances or information that
reveals something personal or private about the individual, Federal
Government employees generally have no privacy interest either in their
official work performed as a government employee either at or away from
their usual duty stations or in their aggregate amount of hours spent
working for the government even if this includes overtime. Accordingly,
the Appeal was denied in part, granted in part, and remanded to the
Albuquerque Operations Office to either release the withheld
information or to issue a new determination offering another
justification for withholding the information.
Kramer, Rayson, Leake, Rodgers & Morgan, 5/18/98, VFA-0402
The DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) issued a decision
denying a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal filed by Kramer,
Rayson, Leake, Rodgers & Morgan (Kramer). In response to Kramer's FOIA
request for information about a third party, the DOE Office of
Inspector General (OIG) stated that it could neither confirm nor deny
the existence of responsive material (a Glomar response). In its
decision, OHA found that OIG properly used Exception 7(C) and the
Glomar response to protect the identified privacy rights of the
individual, which were found to outweigh any public interest in the
information. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.
Whistleblower Hearing
Thomas T. Tiller, 5/21/98, VWA-0018
A Hearing Officer issued an Initial Agency Decision concerning a
whistleblower complaint. The Hearing Officer determined that Thomas T.
Tiller (Tiller) made one protected disclosure and proved by a
preponderance of the evidence that the protected disclosure was a
contributing factor to his demotion and reassignment. The Hearing
Officer determined, however, that Wackenhut Services, Incorporated
(Wackenhut), a DOE contractor, provided clear and convincing evidence
to demonstrate that it would have demoted and reassigned Tiller even if
he had not made his protected disclosure. The Hearing Officer also
determined that Tiller participated in a protected activity when he
filed his Part 708 Complaint in August 1994. She further determined
that Tiller's 1994 complaint filing contributed to the pattern of
alleged discriminatory acts set forth in his 1996 Whistleblower
Complaint. The Hearing Officer determined, however, that Wackenhut
proved by clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the
actions enumerated in Tiller's 1996 Whistleblower Complaint even if
Tiller had not filed his 1994 Whistleblower Complaint. Therefore, the
Hearing Officer found that Tiller failed to establish the existence of
any violations of the DOE's Contractor Employee Protection Program for
which relief is warranted under 10 CFR Sec. 708.10.
Refund Applications
Better Materials Inc., 5/21/98, RF272-94734
The DOE denied an Application for Refund filed in the Subpart V
Crude Oil proceeding because the applicant's wholly owned subsidiary
had received a refund from the Surface Transporters Escrow.
Gulf Oil Corp./U.S. Reduction, 5/18/98, RR300-00293
The DOE granted a motion for reconsideration filed by in connection
with Gulf Oil Corp./U.S. Reduction, Case No. RF300-20907 (June 6,
1994). The DOE determined that the applicant, The Travelers Group,
Inc., was entitled to an additional refund of $1,796.
Refund Applications
The Office of Hearings and Appeals issued the following Decisions
and Orders concerning refund applications, which are not summarized.
Copies of the full texts of the Decisions and Orders are available in
the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals.
Annco Partnership et al.................................. RK272-01898 5/21/98
Betz Laboratories, Inc................................... RF272-98945 5/21/98
Leatham Brothers, Inc. et al............................. RF272-95231 5/19/98
Masterson Company, Inc. et al............................ RF272-94589 5/19/98
S.A.D. #22 et al......................................... RF272-95369 5/21/98
Dismissals
The following submissions were dismissed.
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Name Case No.
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Burlin McKinney.............................. VFA-0418
Liberty Cash Grocers, Inc.................... RK272-04779
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[FR Doc. 98-18571 Filed 7-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
