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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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June 24, 2002 Ms. Alice Caruso
OR2002-3404 Dear Ms. Caruso: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 164779. The Texas Workforce Commission (the "commission") received two requests from the same requestor for all information pertaining to a named individual, to include information relating to claims filed by the named individual against two specified entities. You inform us that information derived from records of the requestor's client will be released to the requestor, but claim that the remaining requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.(1) Section 552.101 excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." This section encompasses information protected by other statutes. Section 301.081 of the Labor Code reads in part as follows: a) Each employing unit shall keep employment records containing information as prescribed by the commission and as necessary for the proper administration of this title. The records are open to inspection and may be copied by the commission or an authorized representative of the commission at any reasonable time and as often as necessary. b) The commission may require from an employing unit sworn or unsworn reports regarding persons employed by the employing unit as necessary for the effective administration of this title. c) Employment information thus obtained or otherwise secured may not be published and is not open to public inspection, other than to a public employee in the performance of public duties, except as the commission considers necessary for the proper administration of this title. Labor Code § 301.081. This office interpreted the predecessor provision of section 301.081(c) to apply to information the commission obtained from the records and reports that employers are required to file with the commission. See Open Records Decision No. 599 (1992) (construing former V.T.C.S. art. 5221b-9). You state that the requested information includes records submitted to the commission by employers for the purpose of administering the state unemployment insurance program. Based on your argument and our review of the submitted information, we agree that a portion of the information is confidential under section 301.081 of the Labor Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code. See Labor Code § 301.081; Open Records Decision No. 599 (1992). You also argue that a portion of the information is confidential as information relating to claims for unemployment benefits. In Open Records Decision No. 476 (1987), this office determined that the regulations found at section 603 of title 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations send a clear message that "claim information" in the files of a state unemployment compensation agency is to be disclosed only to a "receiving agency," as defined in the regulations, or to other specified parties. See 20 C.F.R. §§ 603.1 et. seq. "Claim information" means information regarding whether an individual is receiving, has received or has applied for unemployment compensation, as well as "[a]ny other information contained in the records of the State employment compensation agency which is needed by the requesting agency to verify eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits." 20 C.F.R. § 603.2(c)(1), (5). This office also stated that "[a] federal statute or administrative regulation enacted pursuant to statutory authority can provide statutory confidentiality for purposes of [the predecessor to section 552.101] of the Open Records Act." Open Records Decision No. 476 at 5 (citing Open Records Decision Nos. 373 (1983); 226 (1979); Johnson v. Wells, 566 F.2d 1016 (5th Cir. 1978)). You state that the federal Social Security Act requires states to comply with the directives of the United States Department of Labor in administering state UI programs. You further state that a Department of Labor directive (UI Program Letter No. 34-97) specifies the conditions under which this information may be released, and that none of them are applicable in this instance. Consequently, we agree that a portion of the requested information is confidential and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code in conjunction with federal law. To summarize, the information you have marked is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 301.081 of the Labor Code or section 603 of title 20 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The remaining submitted information must be released to the requestor. This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a). If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e). If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408,411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ). Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the Texas Building and Procurement Commission at 512/475-2497. If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. We note that a third party may challenge this ruling by filing suit seeking to withhold information from a requestor. Gov't Code § 552.325. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling. Sincerely, Michael A. Pearle
MAP/jh Ref: ID# 164779 Enc. Submitted documents cc: Mark C. Brewster
Footnotes 1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |