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FOIL-AO-18524

From: Jobin-Davis, Camille (DOS)
Sent: Tuesday, June 14, 2011 11:39 AM
To:  
Subject:    RE: Freedom of Information Law - disciplinary records

 

Generally speaking, disclosure of home addresses of public employees coupled with the names of those employees, in our opinion, would cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, as the home address is typically not related to the employee's job performance.  Due to application of the Personal Privacy Protection Law, state agencies would be prohibited from disclosing an employee's home address while other agencies would have the discretionary authority to do so.  Additionally, there are some circumstances when partial disclosure would be appropriate, such as when there is a residency
requirement.

Further, the Freedom of Information Law explicitly says "Nothing in this
article shall require the disclosure of the home address of an officer or
employee, former officer or employee..." Section 89(7).

If it is not important that address information be linked to names of
individual employees, perhaps a request could be made for the zip codes of the home addresses of the employees, or the municipalities that are listed, rather than a full list of names and addresses.  When home address information is set forth in the aggregate, or sufficiently separate from the identity of the employee, it is our opinion that disclosure would not cause an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.  And, if the agency was able to cull such data from its electronic database with reasonable effort, the agency would be obligated to do so.

Although tangential, home address information is required to be made public through requests for access to tax rolls and voter registration records - although such information is not linked to a person's employment status.

I hope it helps - and again, if I can be of further assistance, please let me know.

Camille