VA Mid-Atlantic Health Care Network (VISN 6)

Report ID: SPE000000077921, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Reported Entity: VISN 06 Salisbury, NC

Issue:

Under FOIA, a VA employee requested the successful applicant's "name, present and past position titles and occupational series, present and past grades, present and past annual salary rates (including performance awards or bonuses, incentive awards, merit pay amount, meritorious or distinguished executive ranks, and allowances and differentials), present and past duty stations (including room numbers, shop designations, or other identifying information regarding buildings or places of employment), position descriptions, identification of job elements, and performance standards (but not actual performance appraisals)." A review of records provided to the requestor revealed the employee's home address and phone number were not redacted. Update: 07/17/12:No data breach has occurred. There was Personally Identifiable Information (PII) involved, but not the required criteria for credit protection services or HIPAA notification.07/24/12:An appeal was filed. The DBCT reviewed and granted the appeal based on the evidence submitted that the requestor and the employee applied for the same supervisor position. The employee discovered the information was released to the requestor and became upset. The Privacy Officer (PO) reviewed the documents that were released and discovered that he failed to redact the employee's home address and his private employment information. He did redact the SSN and date of birth. The employee will receive a general notification letter.

Outcome:

The Privacy Officer will now use the Adobe Acrobat 9 pro software to redact FOIA requested documents.