Pennsylvania state government payroll request

RESPONSE SENT VIA EMAIL

RESPONSE SENT VIA EMAIL

March 14, 2013

Dear Mr. Walker:

This email acknowledges receipt by the Pennsylvania Treasury March 8, 2013, under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law (“Law”) (65 P.S. §§ 67.101 et seq., as amended). A copy of your request is attached.

Pursuant to Section 67.902 of the Law the Department will require additional time to conduct a legal review to determine whether the records you have requested are public records and subject to access under the Law. You will receive a final response within thirty days from the date of this email.

If you have any questions, please contact me at (717) 787-2990.

Respectfully,

Geraldine Williams
Opens Record Officer

Confidentiality Notice: This electronic communication is privileged and confidential and is intended only for the party to whom it is addressed. Any use, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this information other than by the intended user(s) is unauthorized and may be unlawful. If received in error, please return to sender and delete the unauthorized communication. Thank you.

RESPONSE SENT VIA EMAIL

April 12, 2013

Dear Mr. Walker:

This email acknowledges receipt by the Pennsylvania Treasury Department (“Department”) of your email request filed under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), received in this office on March 8, 2013. Please be advised that Pennsylvania has its own Right-to-Know Law (“Law”) (65 P.S. §§ 67.101 et seq., as amended), which applies to all requests for information filed with this Department. On March 14, 2013, the Department sent you a letter explaining that your request was under legal review and you would receive an answer in thirty (30) days. A copy of your request is enclosed.

You requested the following information “2010, 2011, and 2012 payroll records for all employees paid by state funds including agencies of the state government, state-funded colleges and universities, and miscellaneous agencies.” Your request is granted in part and denied in part.

Your request is granted to the extent the Department is providing you with the payroll information from 2010-2012, which contains employees’ names, job titles, the bureau in which they work, salary, and year end date. Medical benefits per employee cost $640 in 2010, $615 in 2011 and $655 in 2012.

Your request is denied as it lacks sufficient specificity in order for the Department to determine what you mean by: “all employees paid by state funds;” “miscellaneous agencies;” “benefits;” “organization unit”; “unique ID”; and “total compensation.”

Pursuant to Section 67.705 of the Law, the Department “shall not be required to create a record which does not exist or to compile, maintain, format or organize a record in a manner in which the agency does not currently compile, maintain, format or organize the record. The Department does maintain the information you are looking for in the way you are looking for it.

Please be advised that the Department does not possess payroll records for all employees paid by state funds or for the payroll of state-funded colleges and universities.

Any payroll records that the Department currently possesses for other agencies are held pursuant to our audit responsibilities set forth in Section 1502 of the Pennsylvania Fiscal Code. Records held pursuant to an audit are not “public records” under the Law. Section 67.102 defines “public record” as follows:

A record, including a financial record, of a Commonwealth or local agency that:
(1) is not subject to disclosure under section 708;
(2) is not exempt from being disclosed under any other Federal or State law or regulation or judicial order or decree; or
(3) is not protected by a privilege.

The Department only receives backup documentation as part of our statutory duty to audit payments as set forth in Section of 1502 of the Fiscal Code. Therefore, such documentation is considered to be work papers underlying an audit and is thereby exempt from disclosure under Section 67.708 of the Law.

I would suggest that if you are requesting payroll records for agencies under the Governor’s jurisdiction you make your request to the Open Records Office for the Office of Administration. As far as independent agencies, you must make your request of each agency.

Right to Appeal
WHEN A REQUEST IS DENIED, WHETHER IN WHOLE OR IN PART, OR DEEMED DENIED, YOU MAY FILE AN APPEAL WITH THE DEPARTMENT. THIS APPEAL MUST BE IN WRITING AND MUST BE FILED WITH THE DEPARTMENT WITHIN FIFTEEN (15) BUSINESS DAYS OF THE DATE OF THE DEPARTMENT’S DENIAL OR DEEMED DENIAL. THE APPEAL MUST STATE THE GROUNDS UPON WHICH YOU ASSERT THAT THE RECORD IS PUBLIC, AND SHOULD ADDRESS ANY GROUNDS STATED BY THE DEPARTMENT FOR DENYING THE REQUEST OR ANY GROUNDS STATED IN THE DEPARTMENT’S EXTENSION NOTICE THAT CONTAINS AN EXPECTED RESPONSE DATE IN EXCESS OF 30 DAYS FOLLOWING THE FIVE DAYS ALLOWED FOR IN SECTION 67.901 OF THE RTKL. THE APPEAL SHALL BE SENT TO:
Prothonotary

May 15, 2013

Dear Mr. Walker:

Please provide a telephone number where you may be reached by the Department of Treasury's,

Mr. Walker,

I spoke to you two weeks ago regarding your request. The Pennsylvania Treasury Department sent our response to you on April 12, 2013, which is included in this email string. You said that you received our response and understood that we did not have the information you sought. You indicated in that conversation that you were going to contact the Commonwealth's Office of Administration.