In April of 2012, the Postal Service™ approved the development of an electronic national database to encompass four Workplace Environment Processes: Initial Management Inquiry Process, Workplace Harassment Fact Finding, Threat Assessment Case Tracking, and Workplace Environment Intervention. This effort will reduce manual, hard copy records, and save work hours at the district, area, and national levels. The application enables the Postal Service to enforce protocol and analyze data to identify trends and preventative measures relevant to workplace harassment, threats, assaults, and overall workplace environment issues. The purpose is to create a national application and central repository for all four workplace environment processes identified above. These changes and updates to the system of records enable the Postal Service headquarters Equal Employment Opportunity and Workplace Environment Improvement Departments to standardize documentation, case management, operating procedures, and outcome measures.
By establishing a user-friendly tracking system for these four processes, workplace harassment policies and protocols become standardized, instituted, and used to resolve complaints in a timely manner and formulate action plans and appropriate outcome analysis. The application allows the Postal Service to better achieve the organization’s goal to provide a workplace environment that is safe and free of workplace harassment, discrimination, threats, and assaults.
Handbook AS-353, Guide to Privacy and the Freedom of Information Act, was revised to include these modifications, which were published in the Federal Register on January 14, 2013 (78 FR 2695–2696).
Handbook AS-353, Guide to Privacy and the Freedom of Information Act
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Appendix — Privacy Act Systems of Records
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Section E. Complete Text of Systems of Records
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USPS 100.900
SYSTEM NAME:
Employee Inquiry, Complaint, and Investigative Records
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Categories of Individuals Covered by the System
[Revise the text to read as follows:]
USPS employees and non-employees who contact USPS with an inquiry or complaint, and employees and non-employees who are subjects of management inquiries or investigations of workplace issues.
Categories of Records in the System
[Revise items 1 and 2 to read as follows and renumber the remaining bulleted item as 3:]
1. Employee information: Name, gender, Social Security number, Employee Identification Number, postal assignment information, veteran status, contact information, finance number(s), duty location, and pay location.
2. Non-employee information: Name, gender, and contact information.
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PURPOSE
[Revise item 1 to read as follows:]
1. To enable review and response to inquiries and complaints concerning employees and non-employees.
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RETRIEVABILITY
[Revise the text to read as follows:]
By employee and non-employee name, subject category, facility, finance number, district, area, nationally, or case number.
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SYSTEM MANAGER(S) AND ADDRESS:
[Add new text]
Vice President, Labor Relations, United States Postal Service, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20260.
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NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE
[Revise the text to read as follows:]
Employees who want to know if their information is maintained in this system of records must address inquiries to the facility head where currently or last employed. Headquarters employees must submit inquiries to Corporate Personnel Management, 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW, Washington, DC 20260. Non-employees who want to know if their information is maintained in this system of records must address inquiries to the District Manager, Human Resources that governs the facility where the inquiry, complaint, or investigative records are stored. Inquiries must include full name, address, and other identifying information. In addition, employees must include Social Security number or Employee Identification Number, name and address of facility where last employed, and dates of USPS employment. Likewise, employees may also be required to furnish where the inquiry, complaint, or investigation occurred.
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RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES
[Revise the text to read as follows:]
Employees, non-employees, supervisors, managers, and witnesses.
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We will incorporate these revisions into the next printed version of Handbook AS-353 and into the next online update, available on the Postal Service™ PolicyNet website:
n Go to http://blue.usps.gov.
n In the left-hand column under “Essential Links”, click PolicyNet.
n Click HBKs.
(The direct URL for the Postal Service PolicyNet website is http://blue.usps.gov/cpim.)
— Privacy Office,
General Counsel and Executive VP, 2-21-13
