Effective Date: January 11, 2006
(71 F.R. 1872)
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION NOTICE OF SYSTEM OF RECORDS REQUIRED BY
THE PRIVACY ACT OF 1974
SYSTEM NUMBER: 60-0274
System name:
Litigation
Docket and Tracking System, Social Security Administration, Office of the
General Counsel.
Security classification:
None.
System Location:
Records are
located at the following Social Security Administration (SSA) offices:
Office
of the General Counsel
Social Security Administration
Room 617,
Each Regional Office will also maintain
information on those cases for which it is responsible.
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region I
Social Security Administration
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region II
Social Security Administration, Room
3904
26 Federal Plaza
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region III
Social Security Administration
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region IV
Social Security Administration
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region V
Social Security Administration
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region VI
Social Security Administration,
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region VII
Social Security Administration, Room
535
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief
Counsel, Region VIII
Social Security Administration
In the
Office
of the General Counsel
Chief Counsel, Region IX
Social Security Administration, Room
405
50 United
In the
Office of the General Counsel
Chief
Counsel, Region X
Social
Security Administration
Categories of individuals covered by the system:
The individuals
on whom records are maintained in this system are individuals who are involved
in litigation with SSA or (in matters within the jurisdiction of SSA) the
Categories of records in the system:
The records
contain information to identify: (1) The court cases that SSA is either
involved in or in which it believes it will, or may, become involved; (2) the
people or groups involved in each case; (3) the component within the government
to which each case has been assigned; (4) the status of the case, including the
key events that occurred; and (5) the type of benefit claim which is the subject
of the case.
Authorities for maintenance of the system:
The authorities
for maintaining this system are the various statutes, regulations, rules or
orders pertaining to the subject matter of the litigation (e.g., the Social
Security Act, 42 U.S.C. 405(g) and 1383(c)).
Purpose(s):
To enable the
Office of the General Counsel to: Efficiently and effectively use its resources
in judicial and administrative proceedings; provide a research tool that will
permit attorneys to determine when and where certain litigation occurred; and
balance the
attorney workload.
Routine uses of records maintained in the system, including categories
of users and the purposes of such uses:
Disclosure may
be made for routine uses as indicated below:
1. To, among others, Federal and State
agencies, private individuals, private attorneys, the United States Attorney
and other Federal officials and agencies for the purpose of providing status
information on pending litigation and managing the litigation workload.
2. To any Federal, State or local agency
when the information is relevant to a matter involving the administration of a
Federal, State or local income program.
3. To a congressional office in response to
an inquiry from that office made at the request of the subject of the record.
4. To the Office of the President for the
purpose of responding to an individual pursuant to an inquiry from that
individual or from a third party on his/her behalf.
5. To the Department of Justice (DOJ), a
court or other tribunal, or another party before such tribunal, when:
(a) The Social Security Administration
(SSA), or any component thereof; or
(b) Any SSA employee in his/her official
capacity; or
(c) Any SSA employee in his/her individual
capacity when DOJ (or SSA where it is authorized to do so) has agreed to
represent the employee; or
(d) The United States or any agency thereof
where SSA determines that the litigation is likely to affect the operations of
SSA or any of its components, is a party to the litigation or has an interest
in such litigation, and SSA determines that the use of such records by DOJ, a
court or other tribunal, or another party before such tribunal, is relevant and
necessary to the litigation, provided, however, that in each case, SSA
determines that such disclosure is compatible with the purpose for which the
records were collected.
6. To a private firm under contract with
the Social Security Administration for the purpose of having that
firm convert the records to machine readable form, or collate, analyze,
aggregate or otherwise refine the information in the records. The contractor
will be required to maintain Privacy Act safeguards with respect to such
records.
7. To student volunteers, individuals
working under a personal services contract, and other workers who technically
do not have the status of Federal employees, when they are performing work for
the Social Security Administration (SSA), as authorized by law, and they need
access to personally identifiable information in SSA records in order to
perform their assigned Agency functions.
8. To a Federal, State or local agency for
law enforcement purposes concerning a violation of law pertaining to the
records in this system.
9. To Federal, State or local law
enforcement agencies and private security contractors as appropriate, if
information is necessary:
(a) To enable them to protect the safety of
Social Security Administration (SSA) employees and customers, the security of
the SSA workplace, and the operations of SSA facilities, or
(b) To assist in investigation or
prosecutions with respect to activities that disrupt
the operation of SSA facilities.
10. To the General Services Administration
and the National Archives Records Administration (NARA) under 44 U.S.C. 2904
and 2906, as amended by the NARA Act of 1984, information which is not
restricted from disclosure by Federal law for the use of those agencies in
conducting records management studies.
11. We
may disclose information to appropriate Federal, State, and local agencies,
entities, and persons when (1) we suspect or confirm that the security or
confidentiality of information in this system of records has been compromised;
(2) we determine that as a result of the suspected or confirmed compromise
there is a risk of harm to economic or property interests, identity theft or
fraud, or harm to the security or integrity of this system or other systems or
programs of SSA that rely upon the compromised information; and (3) we
determine that disclosing the information to such agencies, entities, and
persons is necessary to assist in our efforts to respond to the suspected or
confirmed compromise and prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm. SSA will use
this routine use to respond only to those incidents involving an unintentional
release of its records.
Policies and practices for storing, retrieving, accessing, retaining,
and disposing of records in the system:
Storage:
Information may
be stored on a variety of computer-readable, electronic media (including disc,
mass storage and magnetic tape) and on paper records (e.g., docket cards).
Retrievability:
The records in
this system relating to litigation in court are retrieved by the court docket
number. Records relating to a case involving programs administered by SSA are
retrieved by the Social Security number (SSN) of each named party to the
litigation. All records in this system are retrieved by the names of parties,
names of the Office of the General Counsel attorneys
assigned to the cases, and the legal or programmatic issues involved in the
cases.
Safeguards:
The buildings
where these records are stored are safeguarded by a variety of physical
security systems which permit access only by authorized personnel and
authorized visitors escorted by authorized personnel. The computer terminals
used to access the records are kept in rooms that are locked during
non-business hours. Electronic records are protected against unauthorized
access by several password oriented systems which produce an audit trail of all
attempts (successful and unsuccessful) to access the records.
Access http://www.socialsecurity.gov/foia/bluebook/app_g.htm for additional
information relating to SSA data security measures.
Retention and disposal:
Records are maintained until the
administrative or judicial proceedings have ended and for varying periods of
time thereafter, subject to the Federal Records Act and applicable retention
schedules.
System manager(s) and address(es):
Office of the General Counsel
Social Security Administration
Room
617
(For additional
addresses see Systems location).
Notification procedures:
An individual can determine if this system
contains a record about him/her by writing to the system manager(s) at the
above address and providing his/her name, SSN or other information that may be
in the system of records that will identify him/her. An individual requesting
notification of records in person should provide the same information, as well
as provide an identity document, preferably with a photograph, such as a
driver's license or some other means of identification. If an individual does
not have any identification documents sufficient to establish his/her identity,
the individual must certify in writing that he/she is the person claimed to be
and that he/she understands that the knowing and willful request for, or
acquisition of, a record pertaining to another individual under false pretenses
is a criminal offense.
If notification is requested by telephone,
an individual must verify his/her identity by providing identifying information
that parallels information in the record to which notification is being
requested. If it is determined that the identifying
information provided by telephone is insufficient, the individual will be
required to submit a request in writing or in person. If an individual
is requesting information by telephone on behalf of another individual, the
subject individual must be connected with SSA and the requesting individual in
the same phone call. SSA will establish the subject individual's identity
(his/her name, SSN, address, date of birth and place of birth, along with one
other piece of information, such as mother's maiden name) and ask for his/her
consent in providing information to the requesting individual.
If a request for notification is submitted
by mail, an individual must include a notarized statement to SSA to verify
his/her identity or must certify in the request that he/she is the person
claimed to be and that he/she understands that the knowing and willful request
for, or acquisition of, a record pertaining to another individual under false
pretenses is a criminal offense. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).
Record access procedure:
Same
as Notification procedures. Also, requesters should reasonably specify
the record contents being sought. Access will not be provided to information
about materials compiled for litigation purposes, such as information about
briefs and recommendations to appeal or not to appeal, except when such access
is granted by the court. These procedures are in accordance with SSA
Regulations (20 CFR 401.40(c)).
Contesting record procedure:
Same
as Notification procedures. Also requesters should reasonably identify
the record, specify the information that is contested and the corrective
actions sought, and the reasons for requesting the correction, and furnish
supporting evidence to show why the record is not accurate, timely, complete,
relevant or necessary. These procedures are in accordance with SSA Regulations
(20 CFR 401.65(a)).
Record source categories:
The sources for
information in this system include legal pleadings and other documents, formal
and informal discovery, Federal and State agencies and the individuals involved
in claims and litigation.
Systems exempted from certain provisions of the Privacy Act:
None.