January 21, 2003; Houston County
1/21/2003 10:14:43 AM
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to section 13.072 of Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13 - the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. It is based on the facts and information available to the Commissioner as described below.
Facts and Procedural History:On January 3, 2003, IPAD received a memorandum, dated January 2, 2003, from Tim Comstock, Director of Personnel and Central Services for Houston County. In his letter, Mr. Comstock asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding the classification of certain data the County maintains. Then, on January 15, 2003, IPAD received a memorandum, dated same, from Mr. Comstock. In this memorandum, Mr. Comstock asked the Commissioner to amend his original request to include the classification of additional data the County maintains. A summary of the facts is as follows. The County has received a Notice of Levy on Wages, Salary and Other Income from the IRS. In addition, the County has received a Release of the Levy. Mr. Comstock asked the Commissioner to issue an opinion regarding the classification of the Notice and the Release. Issue:In his request for an opinion, Mr. Comstock asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subdivision 1, all government data are public unless otherwise classified. Data on an individual collected because s/he is or was an employee of, performs services on a voluntary basis for, or acts as an independent contractor with a government entity are classified pursuant to section 13.43, personnel data. Subdivision 2 of section 13.43 provides a list of most of the personnel data that are public and subdivision 4 classifies remaining personnel data as private. In the case of this opinion, according to Mr. Comstock, the Notice and the Release are about an individual who is or was an employee or an independent contractor for the County. Therefore, the data in the Notice and the Release are classified pursuant to section 13.43. Further, because those data are not the types treated as public pursuant to subdivision 2 of section 13.43, the data in the documents are private and cannot be released. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that Mr. Comstock raised is as follows:
Signed:
Brian J. Lamb
Dated: January 21, 2003 |
Personnel data
Personnel data (13.43)
