Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

(a) The hearing official shall issue to the Secretary and the employee a written opinion stating his or her decision, with a rationale supporting that decision, as soon as practicable after the hearing, but not later than 60 days after the employee files the petition requesting the hearing as provided in § 22.5(i).

(b) The written decision following a hearing will include:

(1) A statement of the facts presented to support the nature and origin of the alleged debt;

(2) The hearing official's analysis, findings, and conclusions, in light of the hearing, concerning the employee's or the Department's grounds;

(3) The amount and validity of the alleged debt; and

(4) The repayment schedule if applicable.

(c) In determining whether the Secretary's determination of the existence or amount of the employee's debt was erroneous, the hearing official is governed by the relevant Federal statutes and regulations authorizing and implementing the programs giving rise to the debt, and by State law, if relevant.

§ 22.9 Standards for determining extreme financial hardship.

(a)(1) An offset produces an extreme financial hardship for an employee if the offset prevents the employee from meeting the costs necessarily incurred for essential subsistence expenses of the employee and his or her spouse and dependents.

(2) Ordinarily, essential subsistence expenses include only costs incurred for food, housing, clothing, transportation, and medical care.

(b) In determining whether an offset would prevent the employee from meeting the essential subsistence expenses described in paragraph (a) of this section, the hearing official shall

[blocks in formation]

§ 22.11 Coordinating offset with another Federal agency.

(a) When Commerce is owed the debt. When the Department is owed a debt by an employee of another agency, the Department will submit a written request to the paying agency to begin salary offset. This request will include certification as to the debt (including the amount and basis of the debt and the due date of the payment) and that the Department has complied with these regulations.

(b) When another agency is owed the debt. The Department will use salary offset against one of its employees who is indebted to another agency if requested to do so by that agency. Such a request must be accompanied by a certification by the requesting agency that the person owes the debt (including the amount) and that the procedural requirements of 5 U.S.C. 5514 and 5 CFR part 550, subpart K, have been met.

(c) Requests by another Federal Department or agency for Department cooperation in offsetting the salary of one of its employees must be directed to the Director for Personnel and Civil Rights, Room 5001, U.S. Department of Commerce, Herbert C. Hoover Building, 14th and Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20230.

§ 22.12 Procedures for salary offsetWhen deductions may begin.

(a) Deductions to liquidate an employee's debt will be by the method and in the amount stated in the Secretary's Notice of Intent to collect from the employee's current pay.

(b) If the employee filed a timely petition for hearing, deductions will begin after the hearing official has provided the employee with a hearing, and the final written decision is in favor of the Secretary.

(c) If an employee retires or resigns before collection of the amount of the indebtedness is completed, the remaining indebtedness will be collected according to the procedures for administrative offset (15 CFR 21).

§ 22.13 Procedures for salary offsetTypes of collection.

A debt will be collected in a lumpsum or in installments. Collection will be by lump-sum collections unless the amount of the debt exceeds 15 percent of disposable pay. In these cases, deduction will be by installments.

§ 22.14 Procedures for salary offsetMethods of collection.

(a) General. A debt will be collected by deductions at officially established pay intervals from an employee's current pay account, unless the employee and the Secretary agree to alternative arrangements for repayment.

(b) Installment deductions. Installment deductions will be made over a period not greater than the anticipated period of employment. The size and frequency of installment deductions will bear a reasonable relation to the size of the debt and the employee's ability to pay. However, the amount deducted for any period will not exceed 15 percent of the disposable pay from which the deduction is made; unless the employee has agreed in writing to the deduction of a greater amount. If possible, the installment payment will be sufficient in size and frequency to liquidate the debt in three years. Installment payments of less than $25 per pay period or $50 a month will be accepted only in the most unusual circumstances.

(c) Sources of deductions. The Department will make deductions from the employee's pay.

[blocks in formation]

the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) guidelines (50 FR 46622), to assist in the location and recovery of missing children through the use of penalty mail.

§ 23.2 Contact person.

Tim Coss, Office of Administrative Services Operations, U.S. Department of Commerce (H2063), 14th and Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20230, Telephone (202) 377-2108.

§ 23.3 Plan.

(a) The Department of Commerce will supplement and expand the national effort to assist in the location and recovery of missing children through the economical use of missing children information in domestic penalty mail directed to the public and Federal employees.

(b) The Department of Commerce may include, on or inside authorized types of penalty mail, pictures and biographical data related to missing children, provided such use is determined to be cost effective. The authorized types of penalty mail include:

(1) All envelopes; and

(2) Self-mailer publications (newsletters, bulletins, etc.) with a shelf-life of no more than 90 days.

(c) The manner in which pictures and biographical data may be used includes:

(1) Printing on envelopes at the time they are initially printed with the United States Postal Service (USPS) required postal code identification;

(2) Printed inserts that are placed in envelopes along with other mailing material;

(3) Stickers that are printed and placed on envelopes prior to mailing; and

(4) Printing as part of the content of self-mailers such as bureau news

letters, bulletins, etc.

(d) Missing children information will not be placed on letter-size envelopes in the areas described as the "Penalty Indicia Area," "OCR Read Area," "Bar Code Read Area," and "Return Address Area" per Appendix A of the OJJDP guidelines.

(e) The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (National Center) will be the sole source from which

the Department of Commerce will obtain the camera-ready and other photographic and biographical materials for use by organizational units. Photographs which were reasonably current as of the time of the child's disappearance shall be the only acceptable form of visual media or pictorial likeness used on or in penalty mail.

(f) The Department of Commerce will remove all printed penalty mail envelopes and other materials from circulation or other use (i.e., use or destroy) within 90 days of notification by the National Center of the need to withdraw penalty mail envelopes and other materials related to a particular child from circulation. The Department of Commerce will not include missing children information on blank pages or covers of items such as those to be included in the Superintendent of Documents' Sales Program, or to be distributed to Depository Libraries, as such material generally could not be withdrawn from use within 90 days of notification. The National Center will be responsible for immediately notifying the Department Contact Person, in writing, of the need to withdraw from circulation penalty mail envelopes and other materials related to a particular child.

(g) The Department of Commerce will give priority:

(1) To penalty mail that is addressed to the public for receipt in the United States, its territories and possessions; and

(2) To inter- and intra-agency publications and other media that will be widely disseminated to and viewed by Federal employees.

(h) All suggestions and/or recommendations for innovative, cost-effective techniques should be forwarded to the Department Contact Person. The Department Contact Person shall conduct biannual meetings of departmental representatives to discuss the current plan and recommendations for future plans.

(i) This shall be the sole regulation implementing this program for the Department of Commerce.

§ 23.4 Cost and percentage estimates. It is estimated that this program will cost the Department of Commerce

$39,530 in the first year. It is the Department of Commerce's estimate that 9% of its penalty mail will transmit missing children photographs and information when the program is fully implemented.

§ 23.5 Report to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

The Department of Commerce will compile and submit a consolidated report to OJJDP, by June 30, 1987, on its experience in implementation of 39 U.S.C. 3220(a) (2), the OJJDP guidelines, and the Department of Commerce's regulation. This report will cover the period from December 24, 1986 through March 31, 1987, and provide detail on:

(a) The Department of Commerce's experience in implementation (including problems encountered), successful and/or innovative methods adopted to use missing children photographs and information on or in penalty mail, the estimated number of pieces of penalty mail containing such information, and the percentage of total penalty mail directed to the public which included missing children information.

(b) The estimated total cost to implement the program, with supporting detail, and

(c) Recommendations for changes in the program to make it more effective.

§ 23.6 Definitions.

(a) Operating units. Bureaus and other organizational entities outside the Office of the Secretary charged with carrying out specified substantive functions (i.e., programs).

(b) Organizational units. The organizational units within the Department of Commerce are:

Office of the Secretary

Bureau of Economic Analysis

Economic Development Administration

Bureau of the Census

International Trade Administration

Minority Business Development Agency
National Bureau of Standards

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Telecommunications and Information Administration

National Technical Information Service
Patent and Trademark Office

United States Travel and Tourism Administration

§ 23.7 Notice to Department of Commerce organizational units of implementation and procedures. Following are roles and responsibilities for the program within the Department of Commerce.

(a) The Department Contact Person shall:

(1) Serve as the Department of Commerce's sole representative for ordering materials, including camera-ready negatives, from the National Center,

(2) Serve as the Department of Commerce's sole supplier of materials to Operating Units,

(3) Maintain a current list of personnel within each Operating Unit who are authorized to order materials,

(4) Notify Operating Units whenever permission to use information on a missing child has been withdrawn,

(5) Ensure that only current missing children materials are distributed to Operating Units, and that only those requests from authorized departmental representatives are filled,

(6) Prepare all required departmental reports on the program,

(7) Promulgate any departmentwide operating instructions deemed appropriate for the program, and

(8) Chair biannual meetings of departmental representatives to discuss the program and identify additional opportunities to use the missing children data with penalty mail.

(b) The Head of each Operating Unit (and for the Office of the Secretary, the Director of the Office of Administrative Services Operations), or his/her representative, shall:

(1) Designate a single person to act as the Operating Unit's representative to the Department for requesting and controlling missing children materials and receiving notification to withdraw materials from use (an alternative may be designated to act in the representative's absence),

(2) Provide the Department Contact Person with the name, title, telephone number, and room number of the Operating Unit's representative for the program (and also for the alternate, if one is designated), and notify the Department of changes when they occur,

(3) Ensure that the shelf-life of printed penalty mail materials containing missing children information is limited to a maximum of three months,

(4) Ensure that information on a child is not used once permission has been withdrawn and the shelf-life for the material would keep the information available for greater than 90 days after the date that permission to use it was withdrawn,

(5) Direct that the Operating Unit representative (or alternate) order missing children information, as appropriate, only from the Department Contact Person,

(6) Comply with policies, procedures, and operating instructions issued by the Department,

(7) Maintain necessary information to prepare required reports and submit them in accordance with requirements,

(8) Provide only current cameraready and other photographic and biographical materials to printers, including those at the Administrative Support Centers, and

(9) Otherwise determine and control the use of missing children materials and information by the Operating Unit. (c) The Director of each Administrative Support Center, or his/her representatives, shall:

(1) Cooperate with serviced Operating Units to promote the use of missing children information on penalty mail,

(2) As directed by an Operating Unit, utilize camera-ready and other photographic and biographical material provided by the Operating Unit in preparation of material for use with penalty mail, and

(3) Assure that any printing performed or procured under its direction is in accordance with the type of material and the manner of presentation as prescribed in this regulation.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

24.52

Later disallowances and adjustments. Collection of amounts due.

Subpart E-Entitlements [Reserved]

AUTHORITY: 5 U.S.C. 301.

SOURCE: 53 FR 8048, 8087, Mar. 11, 1988, unless otherwise noted.

EDITORIAL NOTE: For additional information, see related documents published at 49 FR 24958, June 18, 1984, 52 FR 20178, May 29, 1987, and 53 FR 8028, March 11, 1988.

« PreviousContinue »