The purpose of this part is to implement the requirements of Federal UC law concerning confidentiality and disclosure of UC information. This part applies to States and State UC agencies, as defined in § 603.2(f) and (g).

For the purposes of this part:

(a)(1) Claim information means information about:

(i) Whether an individual is receiving, has received, or has applied for UC;

(ii) The amount of compensation the individual is receiving or is entitled to receive; and

(iii) The individual's current (or most recent) home address.

(2) For purposes of subpart C (IEVS), claim information also includes:

(i) Whether the individual has refused an offer of work and, if so, a description of the job offered including the terms, conditions, and rate of pay; and

(ii) Any other information contained in the records of the State UC agency that is needed by the requesting agency to verify eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits.

(b) Confidential UC information and confidential information mean any UC information, as defined in paragraph (j) of this section, required to be kept confidential under § 603.4.

(c) Public domain information means—

(1) Information about the organization of the State and the State UC agency and appellate authorities, including the names and positions of officials and employees thereof;

(2) Information about the State UC law (and applicable Federal law) provisions, rules, regulations, and interpretations thereof, including statements of general policy and interpretations of general applicability; and

(3) Any agreement of whatever kind or nature, including interstate arrangements and reciprocal agreements and any agreement with the Department of Labor or the Secretary, relating to the administration of the State UC law.

(d) Public official means:

(1) An official, agency, or public entity within the executive branch of Federal, State, or local government who (or which) has responsibility for administering or enforcing a law, or an elected official in the Federal, State, or local government.

(2) Public postsecondary educational institutions established and governed under the laws of the State. These include the following:

(i) Institutions that are part of the State's executive branch. This means the head of the institution must derive his or her authority from the Governor, either directly or through a State WDB, commission, or similar entity established in the executive branch under the laws of the State.

(ii) Institutions which are independent of the executive branch. This means the head of the institution derives his or her authority from the State's chief executive officer for the State education authority or agency when such officer is elected or appointed independently of the Governor.

(iii) Publicly governed, publicly funded community and technical colleges.

(3) Performance accountability and customer information agencies designated by the Governor of a State to be responsible for coordinating the assessment of State and local education or workforce training program performance and/or evaluating education or workforce training provider performance.

(4) The chief elected official of a local area as defined in WIOA sec. 3(9).

(5) A State educational authority, agency, or institution as those terms are used in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, to the extent they are public entities.

(e) Secretary and Secretary of Labor mean the cabinet officer heading the United States Department of Labor, or his or her designee.

(f) State means a State of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands.

(g) State UC agency means an agency charged with the administration of the State UC law.

(h) State UC law means the law of a State approved under Section 3304(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 3304(a)).

(i) Unemployment compensation (UC) means cash benefits payable to individuals with respect to their unemployment.

(j) UC information and State UC information means information in the records of a State or State UC agency that pertains to the administration of the State UC law. This term includes those State wage reports collected under the IEVS (Section 1137 of the Social Security Act (SSA)) that are obtained by the State UC agency for determining UC monetary eligibility or are downloaded to the State UC agency's files as a result of a crossmatch but does not otherwise include those wage reports. It does not include information in a State's Directory of New Hires, but does include any such information that has been disclosed to the State UC agency for use in the UC program. It also does not include the personnel or fiscal information of a State UC agency.

(k) Wage information means information in the records of a State UC agency (and, for purposes of § 603.23 (IEVS)), information reported under provisions of State law which fulfill the requirements of Section 1137, SSA) about the—

(1) Wages paid to an individual,

(2) Social security account number (or numbers, if more than one) of such individual, and

(3) Name, address, State, and the Federal employer identification number of the employer who paid such wages to such individual.