From the Hotline

By Teri Henning
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: Are documents that reflect pensions paid to former public employees public records?

A: Documents that reflect pensions given to public employees are public records. They are documents that deal with the "receipt or disbursement" of money and therefore fall within the definition of "public record" under Pennsylvania's Right to Know Law. 

The Pennsylvania courts have made it clear that Pennsylvania citizens are entitled to track the spending of public money. 

That being said, there are certain parts of pension-related documents that can be redacted before the documents are publicly disclosed. The Pennsylvania courts have ruled that public employees' home addresses and home telephone numbers are not public. In addition, federal law prohibits agencies from disclosing social security numbers. 

The mere fact that a pension document contains this "personal" information, however, does not change the fact that the document is a public record. Under the 2002 amendments to the Right to Know Law, when public records contain "non-public" information (such as social security numbers) an agency must redact the non-public information and turn over the remainder of the document.

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