Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records, 44384-44386 [2023-14788]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 12, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 44384-44386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-14788]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-7077-N-11]


Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

AGENCY: Office of Administration, Office of Chief Human Capital 
Officer, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of a new system of records.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974, as 
amended 5 U.S.C. 552a, the Department of the Housing and Urban 
Development (HUD), Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) is 
issuing a public notice of its intent to establish a Privacy Act System 
of Records titled, ``Anti-Harassment Program''. The Anti-Harassment 
Program's (AHP) intent is to provide the entire HUD workforce 
accountability for professional conduct, a mechanism for reporting 
unwelcome conduct, and prevent potentially harassing activity and 
promptly correct harassing behaviors. The AHP promotes a ``speak-up'' 
culture, bolsters employee morale, and increases employee engagement, 
satisfaction, and retention. The AHP prevents all harassing conduct 
before the conduct can become severe or pervasive. As such, the Anti-
Harassment Program (AHP) is a mission imperative for all stakeholders.

DATES: Comments will be accepted on or before August 11, 2023. This 
proposed action will be effective on the date following the end of the 
comment period unless comments are received which result in a contrary 
determination.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by docket number or by 
one of the following methods:
    Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
instructions provided on that site to submit comments electronically.
    Fax: 202-619-8365.
    Email: [email protected].
    Mail: Attention: Privacy Office; LaDonne White, Chief Privacy 
Officer; Office of the Executive Secretariat; 451 Seventh Street SW, 
Room 10139; Washington, DC 20410-0001.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name 
and docket number for this rulemaking. All comments received will be 
posted without change to https://www.regulations.gov. including any 
personal information provided.
    Docket: For access to the docket to read background documents or 
comments received go to https://www.regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: LaDonne White; 451 Seventh Street SW, 
Room 10139; Washington, DC 20410-0001; telephone number 202-708-3054 
(this is not a toll-free number). HUD welcomes and is prepared to 
receive calls from individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing, as well 
as individuals with speech or communication disabilities. To learn more 
about how to make an accessible telephone call, please visit https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/telecommunications-relay-service-trs.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: HUD attracts and retains highly qualified 
and unique individuals into mission-critical positions. Employees are 
likely to remain with their federal agency if they feel confidence and 
trustworthiness in the agency's ability to make them feel safe and 
secure while performing in the capacity of their duties to accomplish 
their mission and/or strategic goals and/or objectives. The Anti-
Harassment Program provides that mechanism for individual to report 
such harassing conduct and behavior. The agency uses an administrative 
inquiry and/or investigative process to apply swift and corrective 
action(s) in order to prevent future instances, and/or to emphasis 
through training, that type of harassing conduct will not be tolerated, 
in accordance with the agency's Anti-Harassment Program's Policy.

SYSTEM NAME AND NUMBER:
    Anti-Harassment Program, HUD/OCHCO-02.

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION:
    Unclassified.

SYSTEM LOCATION:
    Records are maintained at the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development Headquarters, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-0001.

SYSTEM MANAGER(S):
    Alejandro Hernandez, Director, Anti-Harassment Program, Office of 
the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO), Office of 451 Seventh Street 
SW, Washington, DC 20410-0001.

AUTHORITY FOR MAINTENANCE OF THE SYSTEM:
    Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, 42 U.S.C. 
2000e et seq.; The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA), 
as amended, 29 U.S.C. 621 et seq.; The Americans with Disabilities Act 
of 1990 (ADA), as amended by the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, 42 U.S.C. 
12101 et seq.
    The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), 42 
U.S.C. 2000ff note; The Notification and Federal Employee 
Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act of 2002, 5 U.S.C. 2301 note.

PURPOSE(S) OF THE SYSTEM:
    The purpose of this system is to allow HUD to maintain case files 
on employees who participate in the Anti-Harassment Program (AHP). 
These records may be used to help streamline and make more efficient 
the administrative investigations and anti-harassment processes, while 
ensuring compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including 
confidentiality requirements protecting the information individuals 
submit in support of their harassment claims or other participation in 
the investigative process.

CATEGORIES OF INDIVIDUALS COVERED BY THE SYSTEM:
    Current HUD employees, contractors and HUD volunteers.

CATEGORIES OF RECORDS IN THE SYSTEM:
    Full name, age, employment status, gender, marital status, military 
status, race, religion, sex, work addresses, email addresses, 
allegations of harassment, information generated

[[Page 44385]]

during fact-finding investigations, other records related to the 
investigation, and response taken as a result of the allegation.

RECORD SOURCE CATEGORIES:
    Individuals from alleged victims and harassers, witnesses, members 
of the public, law enforcement officers of other Federal agencies, and 
other individuals involved with the allegation.

ROUTINE USES OF RECORDS MAINTAINED IN THE SYSTEM, INCLUDING CATEGORIES 
OF USERS AND PURPOSES OF SUCH USES:
    1. 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.
    2. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants, Federal 
agencies, and non-Federal entities, including, but not limited to, 
State and local governments and other research institutions or their 
parties, and entities and their agents with whom HUD has a contract, 
service agreement, or grant for the purposes of statistical analysis 
such as: approved payments and other pertinent and relative 
information, and research in support of program operations, management, 
performance monitoring, evaluation, risk management, and policy 
development, or to otherwise support the Department's mission.
    3. To contractors, grantees, experts, consultants and their agents, 
or others performing or working under a contract, service, grant, or 
cooperative agreement with HUD or under contract to another agency when 
necessary to accomplish an agency function related to a system of 
records. Disclosure requirements are limited to only those data 
elements considered relevant to accomplishing an agency function.
    4. To appropriate agencies, entities, and persons when: (I) HUD 
suspects or has confirmed that there has been a breach of the system of 
records; (2) HUD has determined that as a result of the suspected or 
confirmed breach there is a risk of harm to individuals, HUD (including 
its information systems, programs, and operations), the Federal 
Government, or national security; and (3) The disclosure made to such 
agencies, entities, and persons is reasonably necessary to assist in 
connection with HUD's efforts to respond to the suspected or confirmed 
breach or to prevent, minimize, or remedy such harm.
    5. To another Federal agency or Federal entity, when HUD determines 
that information from this system of records is reasonably necessary to 
assist the recipient agency or entity in (1) responding to a suspected 
or confirmed breach or (2) preventing, minimizing, or remedying the 
risk of harm to individuals, the recipient agency or entity (including 
its information systems, programs and operations), the Federal 
Government, or national security, resulting from a suspected or 
confirmed breach.
    6. To appropriate Federal, State, local, tribal, or governmental 
agencies or multilateral governmental organizations responsible for 
investigating or prosecuting the violations of, or for enforcing or 
implementing, a statute, rule, regulation, order, or license, where HUD 
determines that the information would assist in the enforcement of 
civil or criminal laws and when such records, either alone or in 
conjunction with other information, indicate a violation or potential 
violation of law.
    7. To any component of the Department of Justice or other Federal 
agency conducting litigation or in proceedings before any court, 
adjudicative, or administrative body, when HUD determines that the use 
of such records is relevant and necessary to the litigation and when 
any of the following is a party to the litigation or have an interest 
in such litigation: (1) HUD, or any component thereof; or (2) any HUD 
employee in his or her official capacity; or (3) any HUD employee in 
his or her individual capacity where the Department of Justice or 
agency conducting the litigation has agreed to represent the employee; 
or (4) the United States, or any agency thereof, where HUD determines 
that litigation is likely to affect HUD or any of its components.
    8. To any agency, person, or entity in the course of an 
investigation to the extent necessary to obtain information pertinent 
to the investigation.
    9. To the alleged victim or harasser, or their representatives, the 
minimal information necessary to provide the status or the results of 
the investigation or case involving them.
    10. To the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the Merit Systems 
Protection Board (and its office of the Special Counsel), the Federal 
Labor Relations Authority (and its General Counsel), or the Equal 
Employment Opportunity Commission when requested in performance of 
their authorized duties of exclusive representation concerning 
personnel policies, practices, and matters affecting work conditions.
    11. To officials of labor organizations recognized under 5 U.S.C. 
Chapter 71 when relevant and necessary to their duties of exclusive 
representation concerning personnel policies, practices, and matters 
affecting conditions of employment.
    12. To Federal, State, or local law enforcement agencies and 
privacy security contractors, as appropriate, information necessary: 
(1) to enable them to protect the safety of HUD employees, the security 
of the HUD workplace, the operation of HUD facilities, or (2) to assist 
investigations or prosecutions with respect to activities that affect 
such safety and security or activities that disrupt the operations of 
HUD facilities.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR STORAGE OF RECORDS:
    Electronic records.

POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR RETRIEVAL OF RECORDS:
    Full name and case file numbers.

POLICIES AND PRACTICIES FOR RETENTION AND DISPOSAL OF RECORDS:
    Temporary: Destroy 7 years after close of case, but longer 
retention is authorized if required for business use.

ADMINISTRATIVE, TECHNICAL, AND PHYSICAL SAFEGUARDS:
    Administrative Safeguards: No paper records.
    Technical Safeguards: Comprehensive electronic records are 
maintained and stored on a shared drive in an electronic encryption 
database system. These records can only be accessed based off the 
user's rights and privileges to the system. Electronic records are 
stored on the Share Drive environment, which runs on the Department's 
network (HUD). This environment complies with the security and privacy 
controls and procedures as described in the Federal Information 
Security Management Act (FISMA), National Institute of Standards and 
Technology (NIST) Special Publications, and Federal Information 
Processing Standards (FIPS). A valid HSPD-12 ID Credential, access to 
HUD's LAN, a valid UserID and Password and a Personalized 
Identification Number (PIN) is required in order to access the records. 
These records are restricted to only those persons with a role in the 
Anti-Harassment Program, having a need to access them in the 
performance of their official duties.
    For Electronic Records (cloud based): Comprehensive electronic 
records are secured and maintained on a cloud-based software server and 
operating system that resides in Federal Risk and Authorization 
Management Program (FedRAMP) and Federal Information Security 
Management Act (FISMA) Moderate dedicated hosting environment. All data 
located in the

[[Page 44386]]

cloud-based server is firewalled and encrypted at rest and in transit. 
The security mechanisms for handing data at rest and in transit are in 
accordance with HUD encryption standards.

RECORD ACCESS PROCEDURES:
    Individuals requesting records of themselves should address written 
inquiries to the Department of Housing Urban and Development 451 7th 
Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-0001. For verification, individuals 
should provide their full name, current address, and telephone number. 
In addition, the requester must provide either a notarized statement or 
an unsworn declaration made under 24 CFR 16.4.

CONTESTING RECORD PROCEDURES:
    The HUD rule for contesting the content of any record pertaining to 
the individual by the individual concerned is published in 24 CFR 16.8 
or may be obtained from the system manager.

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURES:
    Individuals requesting notification of records of themselves should 
address written inquiries to the Department of Housing Urban 
Development, 451 7th Street SW, Washington, DC 20410-0001. For 
verification purposes, individuals should provide their full name, 
office or organization where assigned, if applicable, and current 
address and telephone number. In addition, the requester must provide 
either a notarized statement or an unsworn declaration made under 24 
CFR 16.4.

EXEMPTIONS PROMULGATED FOR THE SYSTEM:
    N/A.

HISTORY:
    N/A.

LaDonne White,
Chief Privacy Officer, Office of Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-14788 Filed 7-11-23; 8:45 am]
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