Sponsors (2)
The bill streamlines interagency data-sharing to detect and recover FECA improper payments and improve administrative efficiency, but does so by expanding access to sensitive employee and taxpayer records—raising privacy and implementation-cost risks.
Taxpayers: enables cross-matching of SSA earnings, Title II benefits, and new-hire records to detect and recover FECA overpayments, which may reduce wasteful federal spending.
Federal employees receiving FECA benefits: improves detection and prevention of improper payments by allowing the agency to compare benefit and earnings records against new-hire data, reducing erroneous payments to ineligible claimants.
Federal and state administrators: creates a clear legal pathway and deadlines (e.g., MOUs within 90 days) for interagency data sharing to support more efficient benefit administration and faster fraud detection/recovery.
Privacy risk for federal employees and taxpayers: broader, systematic interagency sharing of earnings, benefit, and new‑hire records increases the chance of misuse, unauthorized disclosure, or data breaches affecting sensitive personal and financial information.
Federal employees: their earnings, benefit, and new‑hire data can be accessed without notice or individual authorization, reducing personal control and transparency over how their information is used.
Agencies and program administration: implementing correlation procedures, confidentiality safeguards, and contested MOUs may impose hidden administrative costs and cause delays or operational burdens on federal and state offices.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Permits the Labor Secretary to obtain SSA earnings/Title II payment records and HHS new-hire data without employee authorization to detect and prevent improper FECA payments.
Official title: To amend the Federal Employees' Compensation Act to permit the Secretary of Labor to obtain certain information relating to earnings and employment.
Introduced May 14, 2026 by Ryan Mackenzie · Last progress May 14, 2026
Authorizes the Labor Secretary to obtain earnings, Social Security Title II benefit payment records, and National Directory of New Hires data from federal agencies without getting prior authorization from individual employees. The data sharing is intended to help the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) program identify, prevent, and recover improper FECA payments by matching FECA recipients against earnings and new-hire records. Agencies must provide the information promptly, at no cost, and the Labor Secretary must set up memoranda of understanding and procedures within 90 days of enactment; the changes apply to FECA payments made on or after enactment.