Settlement Agreements
| Submitted | Jan. 16, 2019 |
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Communications
From: Public Citizen
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
All settlement agreements effective on or after January 1, 2014 between EOTSS (formerly MassIT and ITD) and any vendors, contractors, employees or other third parties relating to the settlement of any legal claims.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
I expect the request to be filled in an accessible format, including for screen readers, which provide text-to-speech for persons unable to read print. Files that are not accessible to screen readers include, for example, .pdf image files as well as physical documents.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Susan Smith
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Good afternoon Ms. Smith,
I am in receipt of your records request dated January 16, 2019 for settlement agreements. I am in the process of compiling any responsive documents.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Michelle Burwell
EOTSS Records Access Officer
617-626-4527
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Dear Ms. Smith,
We have not finished our review of the requested documents and need an extension.
I hope to have them to you within 5-7 business days. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Thank you,
Michelle Burwell
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Dear Ms. Smith,
In response to your records request for Settlement Agreements dated January 16, 2019, please find the attached document.
Thank you,
Michelle Burwell
EOTSS RAO
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Dear Ms. Smith,
In response to your records request for Settlement Agreements dated January 16, 2019, please find the attached document.
Please let me know if you have any further questions.
Thank you and apologies for the delay in response.
Best,
Michelle Burwell
EOTSS RAO
617-626-4527
From: Public Citizen
Hi Michelle,
What is the legal basis for redacting the settlement amounts? That information is a matter of public record.
Susan
From: Public Citizen
Michelle,
I would like the Division of Public Records to review the extensive redactions made to these documents and to confirm that the redactions are appropriate.
I will make that request directly unless you typically handle that.
Thanks,
Susan
From: Public Citizen
Michelle,
I re-read the public records statute and I think I have to make the request myself. I'll do that later this weekend.
I will also be asking for a review of the entire response because there are no vendor settlement agreements. I know there was an IBM settlement of around 6M because it was reported in the news. Why didn't EOTSS include that in the response? EOTSS responded with only employees settlement agreements and my request also included legal settlements vendors, contractors, or other third parties.
Thanks again,
Susan
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Hi Susan, I’ve asked the attorneys for the basis of the redactions and will get the response as soon as I hear back.
For some reason the other docs did not load, I’ll resend them again Tuesday when I return to the office. I believe the CGI settlement agreement is available on the EOTSS site, I’ll track that down for you this weekend.
Thank you for your patience.
Michelle
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From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Hi Susan, can you confirm receipt of 12 responsive CGI settlement agreements documents. I think I had an issue with needing a token for the muckrock site, so I'll send the CGI and IBM docs separately.
Thanks,
Michelle
There are too many files to display on this communication. See all files
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Hi Susan, here's the IBM agreement.
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Hi Susan, I think I had an issue with needing a token to upload documents on the muckrock site. I've re-loaded the additional documents to the site and it appears they have been accepted. In addition to the settlement agreements sent Friday, I uploaded 13 additional documents (the majority are the CGI settlement documents and the IBM document.)
I believe this fulfills your request. Please let me know if you have any additional questions or if you'd like me to send you the documents via email. I can send them in a series of emails.
Thank you,
Michelle
617-626-4527
From: Public Citizen
Michelle,
Thank you. I received the files but the Commonwealth has not provided a legal basis for redacting the AMOUNTS PAID to former employees. The list of 20 allowed redactions does not include financial/payment information. Can you please provide the statutory basis for that?
The Commonwealth's financial information is public record. This is taxpayer money.
Even in the Globe case, the Commonwealth did not even try to redact the amounts paid. The Commonwealth provided that to the Globe without argument. The legal argument, which the Commonwealth lost, was over the disclosure of the employee names.
Susan
From: Public Citizen
Hi Michelle,
Any word?
Susan
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Good afternoon Susan,
After discussing with the General Counsel, the amounts paid were not redacted and all relevant information is in the documents.
Thank you,
Michelle
From: Public Citizen
Hi Michelle,
I asked the Comptroller the same question about settlement amounts and they provided this link without delay. https://www.macomptroller.org/settlements-judgment-reports
I have been able to independently verify that in 2017 ITD paid L. Hamel $9,000. If there was an applicable public records exemption, wouldn't the Comptroller would have applied it?
Why would two Commonwealth offices have different answers to the same public records request? With the partial response, delayed response, and unexplained redactions of settlement amounts, this experience has been very frustrating.
Susan
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Massachusetts Public Records Law request, copied below, and originally submitted on Jan. 16, 2019. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: Executive Office Of Technology Services And Security, Commonwealth Of Ma
Hi Susan, here is the unredacted 9,000 settlement amount for Linda Hamel's settlement agreement. I'll send a copy to the Supervisor's office as well. Thank you, Michelle
From: Public Citizen
Hi,
Thanks so much for your help with this request! I really appreciate it.
Sincerely,
Susan Smith
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