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About Search Results
The advisory opinion library currently includes:
- Data practices advisory opinions issued by the Commissioner of Administration from 1993 to the present.
- Open Meeting Law advisory opinions issued by the Commissioner of Administration from 2003 to the present.
The Commissioner's authority is found in Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072. Opinions are nonbinding, but a court may give them deference in a court action. Parties to a court action that act in conformity with an advisory opinion are not liable for certain damages or attorneys fees.
A written, numbered, and published opinion issued by the attorney general shall take precedence over an advisory opinion issued by the Commissioner of Administration.
Results 1 - 10 of 224
Advisory Opinion 22-005
July 25, 2022; Metropolitan Council
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2021). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A government entity asked whether a final disposition of disciplinary action occurred for the purposes of Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(5) when the entity decided to discipline an employee, the employee grieved the discipline under a collective bargaining agreement but resigned during the grievance process, and the union representing the employee declined to elect that the grievance be referred to arbitration. The Commissioner opined that final disposition had occurred based on the language of section 13.43, subdivision 2(b) because the employee’s union failed “to elect arbitration within the time provided by the collective bargaining agreement.” Additionally, the employee’s resignation during the grievance process did not impact when the final disposition occurred.
Category: Personnel data
Keywords: Personnel data, Final decision regarding disciplinary action, Final disposition of disciplinary action, Resignation
Commissioner: Alice Roberts-Davis
Advisory Opinion 21-007
November 29, 2021; City of Golden Valley
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2020). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A city asked the Commissioner whether data in a recording made by an employee on a personal device and uploaded to the city’s computer system was government data, subject to the Data Practices Act. If so, the city asked how such data were classified. In reviewing its own policies, the city determined that the storage of the data on government computer systems did not fall within the employee’s limited ability to use city technology for personal reasons. As a result, the Commissioner agreed with the city’s assessment that the data were government data. The Commissioner also opined that any data in the recording in which an employee is an identifiable subject are personnel data classified by Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, and any other data that are not on individuals are presumptively public unless classified by another law.
Category: Personnel data, Personal data/devices
Keywords: Personnel data, Personal data/devices, Government data
Commissioner: Alice Roberts-Davis
Advisory Opinion 21-005
June 21, 2021; ISD 186, Pequot Lakes Public Schools
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2020). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A school district asked the Commissioner about the classification of data that the district maintained about teachers who attended a professional development program offered by the District. The Commissioner concluded that the data that identified the teachers that attended the program constituted “work-related continuing education” within the meaning of Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(7), and were therefore public.
Category: Personnel data
Keywords: Personnel data,
Commissioner: Alice Roberts-Davis;
Advisory Opinion 21-002
January 13, 2021; ISD 197, West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan Area Schools
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2020). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A member of the public made a data request to a school district. She requested a copy of the recording of a school district open meeting. The school district denied access to the recording, indicating the recording contained discussions of allegations against school district personnel. The Commissioner could not determine whether the school district properly responded to the public data request because there was a factual dispute as to the purpose for the school district’s maintenance of the recording, and whether the school district maintained more than one copy of the recording for separate purposes.
Category: Open Meeting Law, Records management/retention, Personnel data
Keywords: Open Meeting Law, Records management/retention, Personnel data, Recording meetings, Record of meeting, Open Meeting Law, Open meeting, Public comments
Commissioner: Lenora Madigan Deputy
Advisory Opinion 20-003
March 3, 2020; ISD 181, Brainerd Public Schools
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2019). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A member of the public made a data request to a school district. He requested an email attachment that contained a district employee’s “contact list.” The school district denied access to the contact list, asserting contact lists are private personnel data. The Commissioner opined that the contact list may contain public data and/or not public data depending on the contacts listed. The fact that an individual maintains a list of contacts does not, by itself, make the contacts about that individual.
Category: Requests for data, Response to data requests, Personnel data
Keywords: Requests for data, Response to data requests, Personnel data, Timeliness of response to public - prompt, reasonable time (13.03, subd. 2), (1205.0300), Timely, generally, Email, Electronic data, email, Email/internet
Commissioner: Alice Roberts-Davis
Advisory Opinion 19-011
September 16, 2019; City of Shakopee
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2018). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A City asked about the classification of data that the police department collected from a school district pursuant to a subpoena, as part of a criminal investigation. The District argued that the data were private personnel data and retained that classification in the hands of the City. The Commissioner concluded that the data “traveled” from the District to the City and therefore, pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.03, subdivision 4(a), the data changed classifications; the data were law enforcement data classified by Minnesota Statutes, section 13.82, in the hands of the City.
Category: Law enforcement data, Personnel data
Keywords: Law enforcement data, Personnel data, Law enforcement, Law enforcement (13.82), Law enforcement data, Traveling data, Personnel data, Personnel data (13.43)
Commissioner: Alice Roberts-Davis
Advisory Opinion 19-008
May 22, 2019; Tower City Council
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2018). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: a City Council held closed meetings to discuss allegations against a staff member after it decided to hire an investigator. Minnesota Statutes, section 13D.05, subd. 2(b), requires a public body to close a meeting(s) to consider allegations against an employee subject to its authority until it determines that discipline may be warranted. Once it makes that determination, subsequent meetings and hearings for additional consideration of the allegations must be open. The Commissioner concluded that the Council members did not comply with the Open Meeting Law.
Category: Open Meeting Law, Personnel data
Keywords: Open Meeting Law, Personnel data, Closed meetings, Open meeting, Open Meeting Law, Personnel data, Complaint or charge
Commissioner: Alice Roberts-Davis
Advisory Opinion 18-017
December 6, 2018; City of Eden Prairie
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2018). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A city asked about the classification of certain data related to the final disposition of disciplinary action in an “Investigation File,” which is now part of an active criminal investigation. The city discussed the operation of section 13.43, and concluded that the data in the Investigation File are public personnel data. The Commissioner agreed that the data are public when maintained by the city and confidential/protected nonpublic at the prosecuting attorney’s office, consistent with a 2016 Minnesota Supreme Court case, Harlow v. State Dept. of Human Services, 883 N.W.2d 561 (Minn. 2016).
Category: Personnel data, Law enforcement data
Keywords: Personnel data, Law enforcement data, Harlow, Investigative data, Disciplinary action, Final decision regarding disciplinary action, Final disposition of disciplinary action
Commissioner: Matthew Massman
Advisory Opinion 18-008
June 21, 2018; Chisago County
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2017). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A county asked about the classification of an investigative report about an elected county sheriff. The Commissioner agreed with the County that the sheriff was a public official employee and that “retirement” is a form of “resignation.” As such, all data about the complaint became public when the sheriff retired while the complaint was pending, per Minn. Stat. § 13.43, subdivision 2(f) and (e) (excepting not public data about other individuals).
Category: Personnel data
Keywords: Personnel data, Elected officials, Complaint or charge, Public official, Public official · Public personnel data, Elected and appointed officials (13.601)
Commissioner: Matthew Massman
Advisory Opinion 18-004
April 16, 2018; School District X
This is an opinion of the Commissioner of Administration issued pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.072 (2017). It is based on the facts and information ...
Description: A school district asked about the classification of data it maintained about a School Resource Officer (SRO) employed by a city and assigned to the District. Based on Advisory Opinion 97-030, the Commissioner opined that the definition of personnel data in Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, includes government data maintained by one government entity about employees employed by another government entity, when employees are working in their official capacities. Therefore, data about the SRO maintained at the District are classified as personnel data and while the existence and status of a complaint against the SRO are public, any other data about a complaint or charge against the SRO is private at the District.
Category: Personnel data
Keywords: Personnel data, Complaint or charge, Personnel data
Commissioner: Matthew Massman
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