Section 6-B3103. BASIC POLICIES FOR MAINTENANCE OF PERSONNEL RECORDS

 

3103.1Authority to maintain personnel records does not constitute authority to maintain information in the record merely because it may be useful; both government-wide and internal agency personnel records shall contain only information concerning an individual that is relevant and necessary to accomplish the personnel management purposes required by statute or regulation.

 

3103.2This section and sections 3104 through 3113 set forth basic policies governing the creation, development, maintenance, processing, use, dissemination, and safeguarding of personnel records which are required to be maintained in the personnel management process.

 

3103.3In this chapter--

 

"Independent Personnel Authority" means any agency authorized by Section 406 of the Act to implement the rules and regulations for the personnel records of their employees, and to which these regulations apply;

 

"Data subject" means the individual about whom the Office of Personnel or agency is maintaining information in a system of personnel records;

 

"Disclose or disclosure" means making information available, upon request, for examination and copying, or furnishing a copy of the information;

 

"Individual" means an employee of the District Government;

 

"Information" means papers, records, photographs, magnetic storage media, micro storage media, and other documentary materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, containing personnel records or data about an individual and required in pursuance of law or in connection with the discharge of official business, as defined by statute, regulation, or administrative procedure;

 

"Information available to the public" means information, including reasonably segregable nonexempt portions of information, that may lawfully be with held, which, on request, may be examined and copied, or of which copies may be obtained in accordance with the Freedom of Information Regulations of the District of Columbia by the public regardless of interest and without specific justification;

 

"Maintain" includes collect, use, or disseminate;

 

"Personnel record" means any record concerning an individual which is maintained and used in the personnel management process under the authority of the Act, or other law or regulation;

 

"Record" means any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency, including, but not limited to, his or her education, financial transactions, medical history, or employment history; and

 

"System of personnel records" means a group of such records under the control of any agency from which information is retrieved by the name of the individual or by some identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.

 

3103.4The regulations set forth in this chapter apply to the "personnel records," as defined in subsection 3103.3 of this chapter, of all employees of the District Government, except--

 

(a)Federal personnel records, as defined in subsection 3101.2 of this chapter, except as specifically set forth herein;

 

(b)Personnel records of judges and other employees of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, which are not subject to the Act or these regulations under Section 201 of the Act;

 

(c)Personnel records of the employees of the Board of Education and the Board of Trustees of the University of the District of Columbia, which records are not subject to these regulations, but shall be subject to rules and regulations issued by the respective Boards, in accordance with Section 404 (b) of the Act; and

 

(d)Any other personnel records subject to laws and regulations for a specific record which supersede these regulations, which include but are not necessarily limited to the following:

 

(1)Retirement records, which apply to participation in the retirement systems specified in Section 2602 of the Act, by authority of Section 2602 of the Act, and are subject to laws and regulations authorizing and regulating such systems;

 

(2)Records of Equal Employment Opportunity complaints and Appeals which are subject to the laws and regulations for the Equal Employment Opportunity program; and

 

(3)Such leave, pay, and other records maintained by an agency or the Office of Financial Management, part or all of which are subject to laws and regulations governing financial records.

 

3103.5The Office of Personnel shall establish in appropriate chapters of the District Personnel Manual the minimum standards of accuracy, relevancy, necessity, timeliness, and completeness for personnel records that agencies maintain.

 

3103.6The head of the Office of Personnel or an Independent Personnel Authority shall ensure that pertinent record keeping regulations and requirements are provided to persons having access to or involved in record-related activities such as creation, development, processing, use, or maintenance of records.

 

3103.7For the purpose of these regulations, information other than a record of official personnel action shall be untimely if it concerns an event more than three (3) years in the past upon which an action adverse to an employee may be based.

 

3103.8Immaterial, irrelevant, or untimely information shall be removed from the official record upon a finding by the Office of Personnel or Independent Personnel Authority that the information is of such a nature. Prior to the removal of any information in the file, the employer shall notify the employee and give him or her an opportunity to be heard.

 

source

Final Rulemaking published at 28 DCR 4288 (October 2, 1981).