Grapes Of Wrath

Government requests you can ignore

The envelope bears an ominous government logo. Inside you find a letter requesting you to submit your employment interview records for 1987 through 1992 for all left-handed nonminority women between the ages of 27 and 52. . . . Good grief! What will you do?

Possibly nothing, thanks to a little-known provision of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which states that if a federal agency's information request doesn't include a displayed control number from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), you can safely toss it in the trash. The only exceptions are compulsory requests such as subpoenas and judicial decrees.

The OMB control number certifies that the government has thoroughly investigated the situation and ascertained the need for the information.

To check on an OMB status, contact the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at Room 350, Old Executive Office Bldg., 17th St. and Pennsylvania Ave., Washington, DC 20503. -Cynthia E. Griffin

This article was originally published in the July 1996 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: Grapes Of Wrath.