This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER

contains documents other than rules or

proposed rules that are applicable to the

public. Notices of hearings and investigations,

committee meetings, agency decisions and

rulings, delegations of authority, filing of

petitions and applications and agency

statements of organization and functions are

examples of documents appearing in this

section.

Notices Federal Register

46733 

Vol. 74, No. 175 

Friday, September 11, 2009 

SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR 

IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION 

No FEAR Act Notice 

AGENCY: Special Inspector General for 

Iraq Reconstruction. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: This notice fulfills the Special 

Inspector General for Iraq 

Reconstruction’s (SIGIR) ‘‘No FEAR Act 

Notice’’ Federal Register publication 

obligations, as required by the Section 

202(a) of the Notification and Federal 

Employee Antidiscrimination and 

Retaliation Act of 2002 (No FEAR) Act 

and by the Office of Personnel 

Management implementing regulations 

at 5 CFR 724.202, to all current and 

former SIGIR employees and applicants 

for employment. 

DATES: This notice is effective 

September 11, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Call 

or e-mail the Deputy General Counsel 

Kirt West: Telephone—703–604–0489; 

e-mail—kirt.west@sigir.mil. 

ADDRESSES: SIGIR Deputy General 

Counsel Kirt West, Special Inspector 

General for Iraq Reconstruction, 400 

Army Navy Drive, Arlington, VA 

22202–4704. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SIGIR is 

publishing its initial No FEAR Act 

notice to inform all employees, former 

employees, and applicants for 

employment of their rights under 

antidiscrimination and whistleblower 

protection laws, and to advise that it 

will publish certain statistical data 

relating to Federal sector equal 

employment opportunity and other 

complaints filed with SIGIR. 

Kirt West, 

Deputy General Counsel, Special Inspector 

General for Iraq Reconstruction. 

Table of Contents 

List of Notices 

No FEAR Act Notice 

On May 15, 2002, Congress enacted 

the ‘‘Notification and Federal Employee 

Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act 

of 2002,’’ which is now known as the 

No FEAR Act. One purpose of the Act 

is to ‘‘require that Federal agencies be 

accountable for violations of 

antidiscrimination and whistleblower 

protection laws.’’ Public Law 107–174, 

Summary. 

The law provides that Federal 

agencies must: 

• Notify employees and applicants for 

employment about their rights under the 

discrimination and whistleblower laws 

• Post statistical data relating to 

Federal sector equal employment 

opportunity complaints on its public 

Web site 

• Ensure that their managers have 

adequate training in the management of 

a diverse workforce, early and 

alternative conflict resolution, and 

essential communications skills 

• Conduct studies on the trends and 

causes of complaints of discrimination 

• Implement new measures to 

improve the complaint process and the 

work environment 

• Initiate timely and appropriate 

discipline against employees who 

engage in misconduct related to 

discrimination or reprisal 

• Reimburse the Judgment Fund for 

any discrimination and whistleblower 

related settlements or judgments 

reached in Federal court 

• Produce annual reports of status 

and progress to Congress, the Attorney 

General and the U.S. Equal Employment 

Commission. 

Antidiscrimination Laws 

A Federal agency cannot discriminate 

against an employee or applicant with 

respect to the terms, conditions or 

privileges of employment on the basis of 

race, color, religion, sex, national origin, 

age, disability, marital status or political 

affiliation. Discrimination on these 

bases is prohibited by one or more of the 

following statutes: 5 U.S.C. 2302(b)(1), 

29 U.S.C. 206(d), 29 U.S.C. 631, 29 

U.S.C. 633a, 29 U.S.C. 791 and 42 U.S.C. 

2000e–16. 

If you believe that you have been the 

victim of unlawful discrimination on 

the basis of race, color, religion, sex, 

national origin or disability, you must 

contact an Equal Employment 

Opportunity (EEO) counselor within 45 

calendar days of the alleged 

discriminatory action, or, in the case of 

a personnel action, within 45 calendar 

days of the effective date of the action, 

before you can file a formal complaint 

of discrimination with your agency. See, 

e.g. 29 CFR 1614. 

SIGIR employees, former employees, 

or applicants for employment who 

believe they may have been victims of 

unlawful discrimination may contact an 

EEO Counselor at the Department of the 

Army, Washington Headquarters 

Service, which serves as the support 

agent on EEO matters for SIGIR. 

If you believe that you have been the 

victim of unlawful discrimination on 

the basis of age, you must either contact 

an EEO counselor as noted above or give 

notice of intent to sue to the Equal 

Employment Opportunity Commission 

(EEOC) within 180 calendar days of the 

alleged discriminatory action. If you are 

alleging discrimination based on marital 

status or political affiliation, you may 

file a written complaint with the U.S. 

Office of Special Counsel (OSC) (see 

contact information below). In the 

alternative (or in some cases, in 

addition), you may pursue a 

discrimination complaint by filing a 

grievance through your agency’s 

administrative or negotiated grievance 

procedures, if such procedures apply 

and are available. 

Whistleblower Protection Laws 

A Federal employee with authority to 

take, direct others to take, recommend 

or approve any personnel action must 

not use that authority to take or fail to 

take, or threaten to take or fail to take, 

a personnel action against an employee 

or applicant because of disclosure of 

information by that individual that is 

reasonably believed to evidence 

violations of law, rule or regulation; 

gross mismanagement; gross waste of 

funds; an abuse of authority; or a 

substantial and specific danger to public 

health or safety, unless disclosure of 

such information is specifically 

prohibited by law and such information 

is specifically required by Executive 


cprice-sewell on DSKGBLS3C1PROD with NOTICES
46734 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 175 / Friday, September 11, 2009 / Notices 

order to be kept secret in the interest of 

national defense or the conduct of 

foreign affairs. 

Retaliation against an employee or 

applicant for making a protected 

disclosure is prohibited by 5 U.S.C. 

2302(b)(8). If you believe that you have 

been the victim of whistleblower 

retaliation, you may file a written 

complaint (Form OSC–11) with the U.S. 

Office of Special Counsel at 1730 M 

Street NW., Suite 218, Washington, DC 

20036–4505 or online through the OSC 

Web site—http://www.osc.gov. 

Retaliation for Engaging in Protected 

Activity 

A Federal agency cannot retaliate 

against an employee or applicant 

because that individual exercises his or 

her rights under any of the Federal 

antidiscrimination or whistleblower 

protection laws listed above. If you 

believe that you are the victim of 

retaliation for engaging in protected 

activity, you must follow, as 

appropriate, the procedures described in 

the Antidiscrimination Laws and 

Whistleblower Protection Laws sections 

or, if applicable, the administrative or 

negotiated grievance procedures in 

order to pursue any legal remedy. 

Disciplinary Actions 

Under the existing laws, each agency 

retains the right, where appropriate, to 

discipline a Federal employee for 

conduct that is inconsistent with 

Federal Antidiscrimination and 

Whistleblower Protection Laws up to 

and including removal. If OSC has 

initiated an investigation under 5 U.S.C. 

1214, however, according to 5 U.S.C. 

1214(f), agencies must seek approval 

from the Special Counsel to discipline 

employees for, among other activities, 

engaging in prohibited retaliation. 

Nothing in the No FEAR Act alters 

existing laws or permits an agency to 

take unfounded disciplinary action 

against a Federal employee or to violate 

the procedural rights of a Federal 

employee who has been accused of 

discrimination. 

Additional Information 

For further information regarding the 

No FEAR Act regulations, refer to 5 CFR 

part 724, as well as the appropriate 

offices within SIGIR (e.g., human 

resources office or legal office) or Army 

(Washington Headquarters Service). 

Additional information regarding 

Federal antidiscrimination, 

whistleblower protection and retaliation 

laws can be found at the EEOC Web 

site—http://www.eeoc.gov and the OSC 

Web site—http://www.osc.gov. 

Existing Rights Unchanged 

Pursuant to section 205 of the No 

FEAR Act, neither the Act nor this 

notice creates, expands or reduces any 

rights otherwise available to any 

employee, former employee or applicant 

under the laws of the United States, 

including the provisions of law 

specified in 5 U.S.C. 2302(d). 

[FR Doc. E9–21957 Filed 9–10–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3710–8N–P 

SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR 

IRAQ RECONSTRUCTION 

Privacy Act of 1974; Notice of Privacy 

Act Systems of Records 

AGENCY: Special Inspector General for 

Iraq Reconstruction. 

ACTION: Notice. 

SUMMARY: The Special Inspector for Iraq 

Reconstruction (SIGIR) has reviewed its 

management records to identify its 

Privacy Act systems and to ensure that 

all such systems are relevant, necessary, 

accurate, up-to-date, and covered by the 

appropriate legal or regulatory 

authority. This is the first notice 

published by this agency. It includes 

three SIGIR-wide systems of records 

including system managers, office titles, 

addresses, or locations. These are: 

SIGIR–1—Investigative Files 

SIGIR–2—Hotline Program Case Files 

SIGIR–3—Freedom of Information Act and 

Privacy Act Request and Appeal Files 

DATES: Effective: October 13, 2009. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Call 

or e-mail Kirt West, Deputy General 

Counsel, Telephone 703–604–0489; 

e-mail kirt.west@sigir.mil. 

ADDRESSES: SIGIR Deputy General 

Counsel, Office of General Counsel, 

SIGIR, 400 Army Navy Drive, Arlington, 

VA 22202–4704. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: SIGIR has 

undertaken an agency-wide review of its 

records to identify all Privacy Act 

systems of records. As a result of this 

review, SIGIR is publishing its first 

Privacy Act systems of records notice, 

which includes three of its systems. 

Kirt West, 

Deputy General Counsel, Special Inspector 

General for Iraq Reconstruction. 

Table of Contents 

List of Notices 

In addition, the SIGIR (and/or the 

Army as SIGIR’s Support Agent) 

maintains Systems of Records in 

accordance with the following 

government-wide Privacy Act Systems 

of Records Notices. 

Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission 

EEOC/GOVT–1—Equal Employment 

Opportunity in the Federal Government 

Complaint and Appeal Records 

General Services Administration 

GSA/GOVT–3—Travel Charge Card 

Program 

Merit Systems Protection Board 

MSPB/GOVT–1—Appeal and Case 

Records 

Office of Government Ethics 

OGE/GOVT–1—Executive Branch 

Public Financial Disclosure Reports and 

Other Ethics Program Records 

OGE/GOVT–2—Confidential 

Statements of Employment and 

Financial Interests 

Office of Personnel Management 

OPM/GOVT–1—General Personnel 

Records 

OPM/GOVT–2—Employee 

Performance File System Records 

OPM/GOVT–3—Records of Adverse 

Actions. 

OPM/GOVT–5—Recruiting Records 

OPM/GOVT–10—Employee Medical 

File System Records 

Blanket Routine Uses 

Certain ‘‘blanket routine uses’’ of the 

records have been established that are 

applicable to every record system 

maintained by SIGIR unless specifically 

stated otherwise within a particular 

record system. 

SIGIR Blanket Routine Uses 

Legal and Law enforcement uses 

1. To any criminal, civil, or regulatory 

law enforcement authority (whether 

Federal, State, local, foreign, or 

international) when the information is 

relevant to the recipient entity’s law 

enforcement responsibilities. 

2. To any individual or entity when 

necessary to elicit information that will 

assist an SIGIR investigation, 

inspection, audit, or other inquiry. 

3. To respond to subpoenas in any 

litigation or other proceeding. 

4. To a court, magistrate, 

administrative tribunal, grand jury, or 

opposing counsel, in the course of 

presenting evidence in such 

proceedings or in settlement 

negotiations. 

5. To attorneys representing subjects 

of criminal investigations, except when 

the SIGIR determines that release is 

inappropriate under Title 5, U.S. Code 

Sections 552a(j) and (k). 

6. To the Integrity Committee of the 

Council of Inspectors General on 


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