SORN 09-90-0013

System name: Federal Employees Occupational Health Program Records, HHS/OS/ASPER.

Security classification:  None.

System location:  Personnel offices shown in Applicants for Employment Records, HHS System 09-90-0006, Appendix 1 and designated offices performing occupational health services for employees in organizations serviced by those personnel offices.

Categories of individuals covered by the system:  Current Federal employees of the Department.

Categories of records in the system:  This system consists of a variety of records relating to an employee's participation in the Federal occupational Health Program at units other than those operated by the Division of Federal Employee Health, Public Health Service. Examples of information which may be included in this system are the employee's name, SSN, date of birth, weight, height, medical history, blood type, nature of injury or complaint, type of treatment/medication received, examination findings, and laboratory results.

Authority for maintenance of the system:  5 U.S.C 7901 et seq., Pub. L. 79-658.

Purpose(s):  These records are used to document visits by employees to health units. They serve as the record of injuries and illnesses and treatment given. Information from this system may be used by Department officials in connection with fitness for duty examinations. These records are maintained in each component of the Department. See also “Retrievability'' below.

Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories of users and the purposes of such uses: 

Information in this system of records may be used:

(1) By authorized medical personnel in connection with the performance of their official duties.

(2) By the Office of Personnel Management, Merit Systems Protection Board (including its Office of the Special Counsel), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and the Federal Labor Relations Authority (including the General Counsel of the Authority and the Federal Service Impasses Panel) in carrying out their functions.

(3) By the Department of Labor in connection with a claim filed by an employee for compensation for job-related injury or disease.

(4) By private contractors engaged in providing medical services under Federal contract.

(5) In the event that this system of records indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general statute or particular program statute, or by regulation, rule or order issued pursuant thereto, the relevant records in the system of records may be referred, as a routine use, to the appropriate agency, whether federal, or foreign, charged with the responsibility of investigating or prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing the statute, or rule, regulation or order issued pursuant thereto.

(6) In the event the Department deems it desirable or necessary, in determining whether particular records are required to be disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act, disclosure may be made to the Department of Justice for the purpose of obtaining its advice.

(7) A record from this system of records may be disclosed to a federal agency, in response to its request, in connection with the hiring or retention of an employee, the issuance of a security clearance, the reporting of an investigation of an employee, the letting of a contract, or the issuance of a license, grant, or other benefit by the requesting agency, to the extent that the record is relevant and necessary to the requesting agency's decision on the matter.

(8) In the event that this system of records indicates a violation or potential violation of law, whether civil, criminal or regulatory in nature, and whether arising by general statute or particular program statute, or by regulation, rule or order issued pursuant thereto, the relevant records in the system of records may be referred, as a routine use to the appropriate agency, whether state or local charged with the responsibility of investigating or prosecuting such violation or charged with enforcing or implementing the statute, or rule, regulation or order issued pursuant thereto.

(9) Where federal agencies having the power to subpoena other federal agencies' records, such as the Internal Revenue Service or the Civil Rights Commission, issue a subpoena to the Department for records in this system of records, the Department will make such records available.

(10) Where a contract between a component of the Department and a labor organization recognized under E.O. 11491 or 5 U.S.C. Chapter 71 provides that the agency will disclose personal records relevant to the organization's mission, records in this system of records may be disclosed to such organization.

(11) The Department contemplates that it will contract with a private firm for the purpose of collating, analyzing, aggregating or otherwise refining records in this system. Relevant records will be disclosed to such a contractor. The contractor shall be required to maintain Privacy Act safeguards with respect to such records.

(12) Disclosure may be made to a congressional office from the record of an individual in response to an inquiry from the congressional office made at the request of that individual.

(13) In the event of litigation where the defendant is (a) the Department, any component of the Department, or any employee of the Department in his or her official capacity; (b) the United States where the Department determines that the claim, if successful, is likely to directly affect the operations of the

Department or any of its components; or (c) any Department employee in his or her individual capacity where the Justice Department has agreed to represent such employee, the Department may disclose such records as it deems desirable or necessary to the Department of Justice to enable that Department to present an effective defense, provided such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the records were collected.

(14) Records may be disclosed to student volunteers, individuals working under a personal services contract, and other individuals performing functions for the Department but technically not having the status of agency employees, if they need access to the records in order to perform their assigned agency functions.

Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining, and disposing of records in the system: 

Storage:  Stored in file folders, punch cards and data tape.

Retrievability:  Records are retrievable by name, date of birth, and SSN.  Information from this system may be used for preparing statistical or summary reports about employee participation in the Federal Occupational Health Program.

Safeguards:  During the employment of the individual, medical records are maintained in files separate from the Official Personnel Folder and are located in lockable metal containers or in secured rooms with access limited to those whose official duties require access.

Retention and disposal:  Records are retained until the individual leaves the Department.

If they have no long-term value they are destroyed at this time. If they have continuing value they may be combined with the Official Personnel Folder which is forwarded to the Federal Personnel Records Center or to the new employing agency, as appropriate. (See FPM Supplement 293-31, Subchapter 5-7 for contents of the Official Personnel Folder.)

System manager(s) and address:  Personnel Officers shown in Applicants for Employment Records, HHS System 09-90-0006, Appendix 1, who service organizational units in which the individual is employed.

Notification procedure:  Inquiries should be addressed to the office where occupational medical services are provided. The individual should include name, SSN, title and organization. An individual who requests notification of or access to a medical record shall, at the time the request in made, designate in writing a responsible representative who will be willing to review the record and inform the subject individual of its contents at the representative's discretion. (These notification and access procedures are in accordance with Department Regulations (45 CFR 5b.6), Federal Register, October 8, 1975, page 47411.)

Record access procedures:  Same as notification procedures. Requesters should also reasonably specify the record contents being sought. (These access procedures are in accordance with Department Regulations (45 CFR 5b.5(a)(2)), Federal Register, October 8, 1975, page 47410.)

Contesting record procedures:  Contact the official at the address specified under notification procedures above, and reasonably identify the record and specify the information to be contested, and state the corrective action sought and the reasons for the corrective. (These procedures are in accordance with Department Regulations (45 CFR 5b.7), Federal Register, October 8, 1975, page 47411.)

Record source categories:  Information in this system of records is: (1) Supplied directly by the individual, or (2) derived from information supplied by the individual, or (3) supplied by the medical officer or nurse providing treatment or medication, or (4) supplied by the individual's private physician.

System exempted from certain provisions of the act:  None