OPM/GOVT-2

Employee Performance File System Records (April 27, 2000, 65 FR 24732)

Description: Records on current or former Federal employees, including appointees to the Senior Executive Service maintained on an employee's performance.
 

Records in this system, wherever they are maintained, may include any or all of the following: 

a. Annual summary performance ratings of record issued under employee appraisal systems and any document that indicates that the rating is being challenged under administrative procedures (e. g. , when the employee files a grievance on the rating received). 

b. A document (either the summary rating form itself or a form affixed to it) that identifies the job elements and the standards for those elements upon which the rating is based. 

c. Supporting documentation for employee ratings of records, as required by agency rating systems or implementing instructions, and which may be filed physically with the rating of record (e. g. , productivity and quality control records, records of employee counseling, individual development plans, or other such records as specified in agency issuances) and maintained, for example in a work folder by supervisors/managers at the work site. 

d. Records on SES appraisals generated by Performance Review Boards, including statements of witnesses and transcripts of hearings. 

e. Written recommendations for awards, removals, demotions, denials of within-grade increases, reassignments, training, pay increases, cash bonuses, or other performance-based actions (e. g., nominations of SES employees for Meritorious or Distinguished Executive), including supporting documentation. 

f. Statements made (letter on or appended to the performance rating document) by the employee (e. g. , a statement of disagreement with the rating or recommendation), in accordance with agency performance plans and implementing instructions, regarding a rating given and any recommendations made based on them. 

Note 3 -- When a recommendation by a supervisor/manager or a statement made by the employee regarding the rating issued (or a copy) becomes part of another Government-wide system or internal agency file (e. g. , an SF 52 when the action is effected or when documents or statements of disagreement are placed in a grievance file), that document then becomes subject to that system's notice and appropriate Office or employing agency Privacy Act requirements, respectively, for the system of records covering that file. 

g. Records created by Executive Resource Boards regarding performance of an individual in an executive development program. 

h. Records concerning performance during the supervisory or managerial probationary period, the SES appointment probationary period, or the employee's initial period of probation after appointment. 

i. Notices of commendations, recommendations for training, such as an Individual Development Plan, and advice and counseling records that are based on work performance. 

j. Copies of supervisory ratings used in considering employees for promotion or other position changes originated in conjunction with agency merit promotion programs when specifically authorized for retention in the EPF or work folder. 

k. Performance-related material that may be maintained in the work folder to assist the supervisor/manager in accurately assessing employee performance. Such material may include transcripts of employment and training history, documentation of special licenses, certificates, or authorizations necessary in the performance of the employee duties, and other such records that agencies determine to be appropriate for retention in the work folder. 

l. Standard Form 7B cards. (While the use of the SF 7B Card system was cancelled effective December 31, 1992, this system notice will cover any of those cards still in existence.) 

Note 4 -- To the extent that performance records covered by this system are maintained in either an EPF, supervisor/manager work folder, or an agency's electronic or microform record system, they are considered covered under this system of records. Further, when copies of records filed in the employee's OPF are maintained as general records related to performance (item k above), those records are to be considered as being covered by this system and not the OPM/GOVT-1 system. 

This notice does not cover these records (or copies) when they become part of a grievance file or a 5 CFR parts 432, 752, or 754 file (documents maintained in these files are covered by the OPM/GOVT-3 system of records, while grievance records are covered under an agency-specific system), or when they become part of an appeal or discrimination complaint file as such documents are considered to be part of either the system of appeal records under the control of the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) or discrimination complaints files under the control of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). 

When an agency retains copies of records from this system in another system of records, not covered by this or another OPM, MSPB, or EEOC Government-wide system notice, the agency is solely responsible for responding to any Privacy Act issues raised concerning these documents. 

The Office has adopted a position that when supervisors/managers retain personal "supervisory" notes, i.e., information on employees that the agency exercises no control and does not require or specifically describe in its performance system, which remain solely for the personal use of the author and are not provided to any other person, and which are retained or discarded at the author's sole discretion, such notes are not subject to the Privacy Act and are, therefore, not considered part of this system. Should an agency choose to adopt a position that such notes are subject to the Act, that agency is solely responsible for dealing with Privacy Act matters, including the requisite system notice, concerning them. 

Authority for maintenance of the system: 

Sections 1104, 3321, 4305, and 5405 of title 5, U. S. Code, and Executive Order 12107. .