Lavonne Houlihan v. Office of Personnel Management

We decide today whether a federal employee may use the Privacy Act to challenge an Office of Personnel Management decision to reclassify her position.

I

Lavonne Houlihan is an Occupational Health Nurse employed by the Department of Health and Human Services at the Phoenix Indian Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona. On December 19, 1986, Houlihan filed a “classification appeal” with OPM’s Dallas Regional Office, requesting that her position be reclassified from the General Schedule (GS)-ll level to the GS-14 level.

OPM assigned Houlihan’s case to Judy Frenzell, a Classification Specialist. Fren-zell determined that a desk audit of Houli-han’s position was necessary, and she visited Houlihan’s place of employment on May 4 and 5, 1987. Frenzell interviewed Houli-han, her immediate supervisor, and an associate director of the medical center. During these interviews, Frenzell took notes, which she later consulted in preparing a draft decision on Houlihan’s appeal. On May 12, 1987, OPM issued its decision, reclassifying Houlihan’s position downward to the GS-9 level. Frenzell then destroyed her notes.

Houlihan appealed her reclassification decision within OPM. On September 15, 1987,…