June 27, 2001; St. Louis County
6/27/2001 10:15:43 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:For purposes of simplification, the information presented by the person who requested this opinion and the response from the government entity with which the person disagrees are presented in summary form. Copies of the complete submissions are on file at the offices of IPA and, except for any data classified as not public, are available for public access. On May 11, 2001, IPA received a letter dated May 8, 2001, from Sarah Lewerenz, an attorney representing AFSCME, and, in this case, employee X. In her letter, Ms. Lewerenz asked the Commissioner to issue an opinion regarding certain practices by St. Louis County regarding data about X. IPA, on behalf of the Commissioner, wrote to Julie Brunner, Administrator of St. Louis County, in response to Ms. Lewerenz's request. The purposes of this letter, dated May 14, 2001, were to inform her of Ms. Lewerenz's request and to ask her to provide information or support for the County's position. On May 23, 2001, IPA received a response, dated same, from Shaun Floerke, Assistant St. Louis County Attorney. A summary of the facts as presented by Ms. Lewerenz is as follows. She wrote: St. Louis County is currently taking the position that under [Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13] a Minnesota government unit may not remove documents from an employee's personnel file. [X] has asked St. Louis County to remove outdated disciplinary documents from [his/her] personnel file. Under applicable labor law, it makes a difference whether disciplinary documents are kept in the employee's own personnel file or in some sort of retention file....Recently, we have been unable to agree with St. Louis County as to the removal of discipline documents from the employee's personnel file because St. Louis County claims that under [Chapter 13] they may not remove documents from the personnel file and place them in another County file. Issue:In her request for an opinion, Ms. Lewerenz asked the Commissioner to address the following issue:
Discussion:Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, regulates the collection, storage, maintenance, dissemination, and access to government data in government entities. See section 13.01, subdivision 3. In his comments to the Commissioner, Mr. Floerke wrote: [M]s. Lewerenz appears to be asking the Commissioner to determine whether St. Louis County is required to remove items which Ms. Lewerenz characterizes as outdated from an employee's personnel file and keep those items in some other sort of retention file. Our position is that [Chapter 13] makes no distinction and contains no such requirement. ...wherever the data is stored, whether in a personnel file or some other retention file, the classification of that data and resultant access to the data will remain the same pursuant to sections 13.02 and 13.03. [Chapter 13] makes no distinction between personnel files and other files.... The Commissioner has the following comments. Ms. Lewerenz is not arguing with the appropriateness or timeliness of the County's responses to requests for access to data. Her assertion, rather, is the County claims that Chapter 13 prevents the County from physically moving data from one file to another. However, in his comments to the Commissioner on behalf of the County, Mr. Floerke stated that Chapter 13 "makes no distinction between 'personnel files' and other files..." Chapter 13 governs neither the physical location where government entities maintain data, nor the type of filing system entities use to organize data. Those decisions are left to the discretion of the entity. What Chapter 13 does prescribe is that entities must "keep records containing government data in such an arrangement and condition as to make them easily accessible for convenient use." See section 13.03, subdivision 1. Furthermore, government entities must "establish procedures...to insure that requests for government data are received and complied with in an appropriate and prompt manner." See section 13.03, subdivision 2. In the instance of a data subject's request for access to data about him or herself, government entities must provide that access immediately or within ten working days. See section 13.43, subdivision 3. Thus, as long as the County is able to respond to requests for access to data within the statutory time frames, it may organize its data in whatever manner it sees fit. Opinion:Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issue that Ms. Lewerenz raised is as follows:
Signed: David F. Fisher
Dated: June 27, 2001 |
Personnel data
Collective bargaining agreements
