Agencies are required by the Privacy Act to provide notice when soliciting or collecting information from an individual. A Privacy Act Notice- describes, why the information is being collected, how the information will be used, and under what circumstances the information may be disclosed.
Participant Privacy Act Notice
The Privacy Act of 1974, as amended, 5 U.S.C. § 552a (2006), requires PBGC to give you this notice when collecting information from you. PBGC uses your information to determine whether and how much of a pension benefit is due you under a private defined benefit pension plan that has terminated, to make appropriate benefit payments, and when necessary, to resolve administrative appeals.
Your Social Security Number is used by PBGC to identify your records within PBGC, to report income for tax purposes, and to respond to lawful requests for information about you from other individuals and entities. Your response is voluntary. However, failure to provide information to PBGC, including your Social Security Number, may delay or prevent PBGC from calculating and paying your pension benefits.
PBGC may release information about you to other individuals and entities when necessary and appropriate under the Privacy Act, including: to third parties to make benefit payments to you; to a company that was responsible for your pension plan or to entities related to that company; to a labor organization that represents you; to obtain information from the Federal Aviation Administration relevant to a pilot or former pilot's eligibility for a disability benefit; to obtain your address from other sources when PBGC does not have a current or valid address for you; to a limited extent to your spouse, former spouse, child, or other dependent when such individual may be entitled to benefits from PBGC; to the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Labor under some circumstances; or to a third party who may be aggrieved by a decision of the Appeals Board such as an alternate payee under a qualified domestic relations order.
PBGC may also release information about you to appropriate law enforcement agencies when PBGC becomes aware of a possible violation of civil or criminal law. If PBGC, an employee of PBGC, the United States, or another agency of the United States is involved in litigation, PBGC may provide relevant information about you to a court or other adjudicative body or to the Department of Justice when it represents PBGC. PBGC may also provide information about you to the Office of Management and Budget in connection with review of private relief legislation or to a Congressional office in response to an inquiry that office makes about you at your request.
PBGC publishes notices in the Federal Register that describe in more detail when information about you may be made available to others. A copy of the most recent Federal Register notice may be obtained from PBGC's Customer Contact Center by calling toll-free 1-800-400-7242.TTY/ASCII users may call 711. PBGC's authority to collect information from you, including your Social Security Number, is derived from 29 U.S.C. §§ 1055, 1056(d)(3), 1302, 1321, 1322, 1322a, 1341 and 1350 (1994).
