Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; James M. Ringo, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter comes to the Attorney General on appeal from the Kentucky Labor Cabinet's denial of the open records request of Justin D. Verst, attorney, on behalf of the City of Cold Spring, for a copy of the complaint filed with the Cabinet initiating a prevailing wage inspection of the City, in regards to the renovation of Municipal Building A.
Lori Barker Sullivan, Deputy General Counsel, responding on behalf of the Cabinet, denied Mr. Verst's request for a copy of the complaint, stating:
In accordance with the confidentiality provisions of KRS 337.345, the complaint or any correspondence identifying employees contacted is not releasable.
G. Jean Smith, a member of the Cold Spring City Council, appealed the Cabinet's denial of Mr. Verst's request to this office.
The issue on appeal is whether the Cabinet's denial was consistent with the Open Records Act. For the reasons that follow, we conclude the Cabinet properly withheld disclosure of the complaint under the authority of KRS 337.345 and KRS 61.878(1)(l).
KRS 337.345 provides:
Except as otherwise provided in this section, the department shall not disclose the identity of any individual filing a complaint or request for inspection under any section of this chapter, except as necessary to enforce, and then only with the specific written permission of the complainant. Except as otherwise provided in this section, information secured from inspection of the records, or from the transcriptions thereof, or from inspection of the employer's premises by the commissioner or his authorized representatives, shall be held confidential and shall not be disclosed or be open to any person except such information may be made available to:
(1) Officials concerned with, and for the purposes of administration of the laws relating to matters under the jurisdiction of the commissioner;
(2) Any agency of this or any other state, or any federal agency for the purpose of enforcing KRS 337.275 to 337.325, 337.345, and 337.385 to 337.405;
(3) To the Wage and Hour and Public Contracts Division of the United States, Department of Labor.
KRS 61.878(1)(l) excludes from the application of the Open Records Act:
Public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by enactment of the General Assembly.
This exception to the Open Records Act incorporates KRS 337.345, relating to the confidentiality of information of Cabinet records.
Pursuant to KRS 337.345, the Cabinet is prohibited from releasing the complaint and any information identifying employees contacted by the Cabinet in its investigation concerning the workplace violation. 95-ORD-56, copy enclosed. Accordingly, we conclude the Cabinet did not violate the Open Records Act in denying Mr. Verst's request for the complaint which initiated its investigation of the prevailing wage inspection of the City, regarding the renovation of Municipal Building A.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.