From the Hotline

By Teri Henning
Pennsylvania Newspaper Association

Q: Is a document that lists the names, addresses, and positions of public employees a public record?

A: Yes. Names and positions of public employees are a matter of public record in Pennsylvania. The addresses may not be public, although a court would engage in a balancing test to determine whether the interest in disclosure outweighed the need for "privacy" under the circumstances.

There are a number of cases in which the Pennsylvania courts have held that lists of names and addresses were public records. Generally, the courts reached this conclusion after deciding that the lists were an essential component of an agency decision (and were therefore public records as that term has been defined under the Right to Know Law). See e.g., Mergenthaler v. Commonwealth, State Employees' Retirement Board, 372 A.2d 944 (Pa. Cmwlth.), aff'd 381 A.2d 1032 (Pa. 1977) (records containing the names and addresses of retired state employees were public); Hoffman v. Commonwealth, Pennsylvania Game Commission, 455 A.2d 731 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1983) (subscriber mailing list for the Pennsylvania Game News published by the Pennsylvania Game Commission was public).

Under these principles, lists of names and positions of public employees must also be public records. They form the basis for many agency decisions, including whom to pay, how much to pay them, who receives benefits, etc.

The question of whether the addresses are public is more difficult. In some cases, the courts have refused access to some home addresses, citing “personal security” or “privacy” concerns. See e.g., Sapp Roofing Co., Inc. v. Sheet Metal Workers’ International Assn., 713 A.2d 627 (Pa. 1998) (home addresses of private employees who worked on roofing projects for schools were not subject to disclosure); Cypress Media v. Hazleton Area School District, 708 A.2d 866 (Pa. Cmwlth. 1998) (home addresses, home telephone numbers and social security numbers of applicants for teaching positions were not public).

In a very recent case, however, the Commonwealth Court held that names and mailing addresses of delinquent real estate taxpayers were public records under the Right to Know Law. Goppelt v. City of Philadelphia Revenue Department, 2003 WL 23138992 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2004).

In Goppelt, the court explained that it will engage in a balancing test to determine whether home addresses in public records should be public or confidential. There, the court ordered disclosure, citing the public interest in disclosing the mailing addresses, the fact that the property owners voluntarily submitted the alternate addresses and the fact that, by law, the address of a property owner is public when it is collected by the Board of Revision of Taxes (another arm of the municipality). In contrast, the court found that the city’s “personal security” and “privacy” claims were highly speculative.

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