Request By:
Commissioner Gary Werenskjold
Cabinet for Workforce Development
Department for Adult and Technical Education
500 Mero Street
Capital Plaza Tower
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Chris Gorman, Attorney General; Amye B. Majors, Assistant Attorney General
Ms. Sally Wasielewski, an attorney with the Open Government Project, has appealed to the Attorney General, pursuant to KRS 61.880, your partial denial of her March 4, 1992, request to inspect certain records in the custody of the Cabinet for Workforce Development. Those records are identified as: (1) The personnel records of Shirley Burkhart, currently Assistant Director of Harlan State Vocational-Technical School in Harlan, Kentucky, including, but not limited to, employment applications, resumes, job histories, professional certificates or licenses, and salary schedules. (2) The personnel records of Kim Jeffries, a teacher at Harlan State Vocational-Technical School in Harlan, Kentucky, including, but not limited to, employment applications, resumes, job jhistories, professional certificates or licenses, and salary schedules.
You denied Ms. Wasielewski's request in a letter dated March 6, 1992, relying on KRS 61.878(1)(a). It was your position that because the files contain information of a personal nature, her request must be denied in its entirety. You explained:
The following specifically named documents from the individual personnel files will be denied based upon the personal privacy exemption cited above and Board of Education v. Lexington-Fayette Urban County, Ky.App., 625 S.W.2d 109 (1981): Employment applications, resumes, and job histories.
Your request for professional certificates or licenses belonging to these individuals should be submitted to the Department of Education. The official custodian of these records is in that Department.
You did, however, indicate your willingness to release documents containing the salaries of the named employees.
In her letter of appeal to this Office, Ms. Wasielewski takes issue with your invocation of KRS 61.878(1)(a). In support of her position, she cites OAG 89-90, in which this Office held that applications for employment and resumes of persons who have been hired are subject to inspection. Ms. Wasielewski distinguishes Board of Education, supra, noting
That case dealt with a blanket request for entire personnel files, which files might have contained such sensitive matters as sex offenses, criminal investigations, medical and military matters ( Id. at 109). The Open Government Project request, on the other hand, is limited to only five items: application, resume, job history, professional certification or licensure and salary schedule.
She asks that we review your partial denial of her request to determine if your actions were consistent with the Open Records Law. For the reasons set forth below, we conclude that you improperly denied Ms. Wasielewski's request.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
In OAG 89-90, we addressed the propriety of a school board's denial of a request for access to employment applications and resumes of school system employees under KRS 61.878(1)(a). Departing from prior opinions, we held:
Under Open Records provisions there may not be a general or blanket denial of inspection of records contained in the personnel file of a public employee, or of a resume or application for employment. To the extent our opinions 84-19 and 87-77 uphold a general denial of inspection of the resume of a public employee, and 79-275 upholds general denial of information on an employment application, we overrule them. OAG 89-90, at p. 5. We believe that OAG 89-90 (copy enclosed), and the authorities cited therein, are dispositive of the present appeal, and that they mandate release of the requested documents.
It is instructive to quote OAG 89-90 at length. At p. 7 of that opinion, we reasoned:
[W]e see no unwarranted invasion of personal privacy in examining relevant prior work experience and educational qualifications of employees or former employees. One does not typically work in secret, such that one's prior work experience would be reasonably termed information of a personal nature, release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. We believe the same view applies to educational qualifications or levels obtained by public employees.
(Citation omitted.) We therefore concluded:
Applications for employment and resumes submitted to Kentucky public school districts, by those who are hired , are subject to inspection regarding prior work experience that is reasonably related to qualifying to work in the public schools. Educational qualifications, meaning educational levels obtained (supra), reported upon such documents, are also subject to inspection. A Teaching Certificate (KRS 161.020) that may be contained in a personnel file is also subject to inspection.
(Citations omitted.) OAG 89-90, at p. 8; cf. OAG 90-113.
The Cabinet is directed to release the employment applications and resumes of the named employees, after separating or otherwise masking any information of a personal nature which appears on those documents, including the employees' home addresses, social security numbers, and medical information. KRS 61.878(4). If the employees' teaching certificates are contained in the file, they too should be released. OAG 85-109; OAG 89-90.
As required by statute, a copy of this opinion will be sent to the requesting party, Ms. Sally Wasielewski. The Cabinet may challenge it by initiating an action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5).