[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 133 (Monday, July 13, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37562-37563]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-18571]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Hearings and Appeals


Notice of Issuance of Decisions and Orders During the Week of May 
18 Through May 22, 1998

    During the week of May 18 through May 22, 1998, the decisions and 
orders summarized below were issued with respect to appeals, 
applications, petitions, or other requests filed with the Office of 
Hearings and Appeals of the Department of Energy. The following summary 
also contains a list of submissions that were dismissed by the Office 
of Hearings and Appeals.
    Copies of the full text of these decisions and orders are available 
in the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals, 950 
L'Enfant Plaza, SW, Washington, DC, Monday through Friday, except 
federal holidays. They are also available in Energy Management: Federal 
Energy Guidelines, a commercially published loose leaf reporter system. 
Some decisions and orders are available on the Office of Hearings and 
Appeals World Wide Web site at http://www.oha.doe.gov.

    Dated: July 6, 1998.
George B. Breznay,
Director, Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Decision List No. 86; Week of May 18 Through May 22, 1998

Appeals

James E. Minter, 5/18/98, VFA-0406

    James E. Minter filed an Appeal from a determination issued to him 
by the Albuquerque Operations of the Department of Energy (DOE) in 
response to a Request for Information submitted under the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA). Mr. Minter's request sought records of overtime 
payments to a DOE employee who, as allegedly part of his job 
requirements, may have engaged in

[[Page 37563]]

physical fitness training while on official travel. The Albuquerque 
Operations Office identified a trip report and a time-card as 
responsive to the request, but withheld the information on personal 
grounds under FOIA Exemption 6. In considering the Appeal, the DOE 
determined that absent special circumstances or information that 
reveals something personal or private about the individual, Federal 
Government employees generally have no privacy interest either in their 
official work performed as a government employee either at or away from 
their usual duty stations or in their aggregate amount of hours spent 
working for the government even if this includes overtime. Accordingly, 
the Appeal was denied in part, granted in part, and remanded to the 
Albuquerque Operations Office to either release the withheld 
information or to issue a new determination offering another 
justification for withholding the information.

Kramer, Rayson, Leake, Rodgers & Morgan, 5/18/98, VFA-0402

    The DOE's Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) issued a decision 
denying a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal filed by Kramer, 
Rayson, Leake, Rodgers & Morgan (Kramer). In response to Kramer's FOIA 
request for information about a third party, the DOE Office of 
Inspector General (OIG) stated that it could neither confirm nor deny 
the existence of responsive material (a Glomar response). In its 
decision, OHA found that OIG properly used Exception 7(C) and the 
Glomar response to protect the identified privacy rights of the 
individual, which were found to outweigh any public interest in the 
information. Accordingly, the Appeal was denied.

Whistleblower Hearing

Thomas T. Tiller, 5/21/98, VWA-0018

    A Hearing Officer issued an Initial Agency Decision concerning a 
whistleblower complaint. The Hearing Officer determined that Thomas T. 
Tiller (Tiller) made one protected disclosure and proved by a 
preponderance of the evidence that the protected disclosure was a 
contributing factor to his demotion and reassignment. The Hearing 
Officer determined, however, that Wackenhut Services, Incorporated 
(Wackenhut), a DOE contractor, provided clear and convincing evidence 
to demonstrate that it would have demoted and reassigned Tiller even if 
he had not made his protected disclosure. The Hearing Officer also 
determined that Tiller participated in a protected activity when he 
filed his Part 708 Complaint in August 1994. She further determined 
that Tiller's 1994 complaint filing contributed to the pattern of 
alleged discriminatory acts set forth in his 1996 Whistleblower 
Complaint. The Hearing Officer determined, however, that Wackenhut 
proved by clear and convincing evidence that it would have taken the 
actions enumerated in Tiller's 1996 Whistleblower Complaint even if 
Tiller had not filed his 1994 Whistleblower Complaint. Therefore, the 
Hearing Officer found that Tiller failed to establish the existence of 
any violations of the DOE's Contractor Employee Protection Program for 
which relief is warranted under 10 CFR Sec. 708.10.

Refund Applications

Better Materials Inc., 5/21/98, RF272-94734

    The DOE denied an Application for Refund filed in the Subpart V 
Crude Oil proceeding because the applicant's wholly owned subsidiary 
had received a refund from the Surface Transporters Escrow.

Gulf Oil Corp./U.S. Reduction, 5/18/98, RR300-00293

    The DOE granted a motion for reconsideration filed by in connection 
with Gulf Oil Corp./U.S. Reduction, Case No. RF300-20907 (June 6, 
1994). The DOE determined that the applicant, The Travelers Group, 
Inc., was entitled to an additional refund of $1,796.

Refund Applications

    The Office of Hearings and Appeals issued the following Decisions 
and Orders concerning refund applications, which are not summarized. 
Copies of the full texts of the Decisions and Orders are available in 
the Public Reference Room of the Office of Hearings and Appeals.

Annco Partnership et al..................................  RK272-01898                                   5/21/98
Betz Laboratories, Inc...................................  RF272-98945                                   5/21/98
Leatham Brothers, Inc. et al.............................  RF272-95231                                   5/19/98
Masterson Company, Inc. et al............................  RF272-94589                                   5/19/98
S.A.D. #22 et al.........................................  RF272-95369                                   5/21/98
                                                                                                                

Dismissals

    The following submissions were dismissed.

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                     Name                               Case No.        
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Burlin McKinney..............................  VFA-0418                 
Liberty Cash Grocers, Inc....................  RK272-04779              
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[FR Doc. 98-18571 Filed 7-10-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P