SPST-0121 Certification of Compliance with Mandatory Bars to Employment 2021

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE WITH MANDATORY BARS TO EMPLOYMENT

OMB (3064-0121)

INTRODUCTION

The FDIC is requesting approval from the OMB to extend, without change, a currently approved information collection (OMB Control No. 3064-0121), based on the reporting requirements articulated in 12 C.F.R. Part 336, Subpart B, “Minimum Standards of Fitness for Employment with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation” of the FDIC Rules and Regulations. This rule implements Section 19 of the Resolution Trust Corporation Completion Act ("Completion Act"), P.L.103-204, by (among other things) prescribing a certification, with attachments in some cases, relating to job applicants' fitness and integrity. The information collection expires on December 31, 2021.

A. JUSTIFICATION

1. Circumstances that make the collection necessary:

The Completion Act, enacted on December 17, 1993, prohibits any person from becoming employed by, or providing service to or on behalf of, the FDIC who does not meet minimum standards of competence, experience, integrity, and fitness. More specifically, the statute provides that the FDIC shall issue regulations implementing provisions that prohibit any person from becoming employed who has been convicted of any felony; has been removed from, or prohibited from participating in the affairs of, any insured depository institution pursuant to any final enforcement action by any appropriate federal banking agency; demonstrated a pattern or practice of defalcation regarding obligations to insured depository institutions; or caused a substantial loss to federal deposit insurance funds. The collection of information proposed here, which is contained in 12 C.F.R. Part 336, would implement these mandatory bars to employment through a certification, signed by job applicants prior to an offer of employment.

2. Use of the Information

The information would assist the FDIC in identifying applicants who meet the criteria for mandatory bars to employment.

3. Consideration of the use of improved information technology:

In most cases, applicants are required to provide only their signature. In some additional cases, they are required to attach information. The need for the signatures makes electronic submissions impracticable.

4. Effort to Identify Duplication:

There is no duplication. The information is not available elsewhere.

5. Methods used to minimize burden if the collection has a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities:

Not applicable. Respondents are individuals. The FDIC notes, however, that in most cases, applicants are required to provide only their signature. In some cases, respondents may be required to attach information. In this way, the burden is minimized to the greatest extent possible consistent with the statutory mandate.

6. Consequences to the Federal program if the collection were conducted less frequently:

These are occasional collections; one time only for each applicant.

7. Special circumstances necessitating collection inconsistent with 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2):

There are no special circumstances. This information collection is conducted in accordance with the guidelines in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2).

8. Efforts to consult with persons outside the agency:

FDIC published a notice in the Federal Register informing the public of its intent to renew this information collection and seeking public comment. That notice was published on November 12 2021 (86 FR 62812). No comments have been received. On December 21, 2021 FDIC published a second notice in the Federal Register (86 FR 72234) informing the public that the agency is submitting a request to OMB for the renewal of this information collection. That notice provides for an additional 30-day comment period and if any comments are received, FDIC will address them as instructed by OMB.

9. Payment or Gift to Respondents

No payments or gifts will be provided to respondents.

10. Any assurance of confidentiality:

Information collected will be kept private to the extent allowed by law. All required records are subject to the confidentiality requirements of the Privacy Act.

11. Justification for questions of a sensitive nature:

This collection asks applicants for employment with the FDIC to provide potentially sensitive information about their past history. This information is necessary to permit the FDIC to comply with the Completion Act, and to assure that its workforce does not include individuals who are barred by law from employment with the FDIC. Persons from whom the information is requested are advised of the reason for the collection.

12. Estimate of Hour Burden Including Annualized Hourly Costs:

 

Summary of Annual Burden
	Type of Burden	Estimated Number of Respondents	Estimated Time per Response	Frequency of Response	Total Estimated Annual Burden Hours
Form 2120/16	528Reporting		10 minutes	On Occasion	88 hours

To estimate the weighted average hourly compensation cost of these employees, FDIC uses the 75th percentile hourly wages reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates for the relevant occupations in the Depository Credit Intermediation sector, as of March 2021.  

To estimate the shares of relevant occupations, FDIC uses historical data on hired applicants. The counts and shares of newly appointed employees by category are as follows:

Newly Appointed FDIC Employees (OMB 3064-0121)

Category1	2018	2019	2020	Total	Three-Year Average	Average Share
Clerical2	8	5	5	18	6	1.14%
Executive3	11	6	4	21	7	1.32%
Manager4/Professional5	131	152	190	467	159	30.03%
Skilled/Technical6	269	324	477	1,070	357	67.51%
Total	419	490	676	1,585	528	100%

Source: FDIC

Summary of Hourly Burden Cost Estimate (OMB 3064-0121)

Category	Total Estimated Hourly Compensation	Estimated Weights	Weighted Average Compensation
Executives and Managers	$127.80	11.33%	$14.48
Lawyers	$152.86	10.01%	$15.30
Compliance Officers	$67.64	22.50%	$15.22
IT Specialists	$94.28	22.50%	$21.21
Financial Analysts	$82.31	32.52%	$26.76
Clerical	$34.73	1.14%	$0.40
Total		100%	$93.37

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics: "National Industry-Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates: Industry: Credit Intermediation and Related Activities (5221 And 5223 only)" (May 2020), Employer Cost of Employee Compensation (March 2021), Consumer Price Index (March 2021).

Note: The 75th percentile wage information reported by the BLS in the Specific Occupational Employment and Wage Estimates does not include health benefits and other non-monetary benefits. According to the March 2021 Employer Cost of Employee Compensation data compensation rates for health and other benefits are 33.3 percent of total compensation. Additionally, the wage has been adjusted for inflation according BLS data on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Consumers so that it is contemporaneous with the non-wage compensation statistic. The inflation rate was 3.31 percent between May 2020 and March 2021.

Total Estimated Cost Burden

The weighted average compensation rate for this information collection is $93.37 per hour. The estimated annual labor cost burden is estimated as 88 hours/year multiplied by $93.37/hour which results in $8,217.

13. Estimate of Start-up Costs to Respondents:

None.

14. Estimate of annualized costs to the government:

None.

15 Analysis of change in burden:

There has been no change in the method or substance of this information collection. The change in estimates annual burden is due to an increase in the estimated number of new hires from an annual average of 500 in 2018 to an annual average of 528 currently.

16. Information regarding collections whose results are planned to be published for statistical use:

The results of this collection will not be published for statistical use.

17. Display of Expiration Date

The expiration date will be displayed on the form.

18. Exceptions to Certification Statement

None.

2. STATISTICAL METHODS

Not applicable.

1 The categories provided by FDIC’s Division of Administration do not all match the BLS occupational series FDIC normally uses to estimate the hourly compensation cost imposed by information collections.

2 Occupation (SOC Code): Office and Administrative Support Occupations (430000).

3 Occupation (SOC Code): Management Occupations (110000).

4 Id.

5 Occupation (SOC Code): Legal Occupations (230000).

6 Occupation (SOC Code): Financial and Investment Analysts, Financial Risk Specialists, and Financial Specialists, All Other (132098).

8