State of New YorkOML-AO-4562
February 13, 2008
TO:
FROM: Robert J. Freeman, Executive Director
The staff of the Committee on Open Government is authorized to issue advisory opinions. The ensuing staff advisory opinion is based solely upon the facts presented in your correspondence.
Dear
I have received your letter and hope that you will accept my apologies for the delay in response. You raised the following question: “When entering into executive session for personnel, what can be said if it is a grievance or raises?
In this regard, first, as a general matter, the Open Meetings Law is based upon a presumption of openness. Stated differently, meetings of public bodies must be conducted open to the public, unless there is a basis for entry into executive session. Moreover, the Law requires that a procedure be accomplished, during an open meeting, before a public body may enter into an executive session. Specifically, §105(1) states in relevant part that:
"Upon a majority vote of its total membership, taken in an open meeting pursuant to a motion identifying the general area or areas of the subject or subjects to be considered, a public body may conduct an executive session for the below enumerated purposes only..."
As such, a motion to conduct an executive session must include reference to the subject or subjects to be discussed, and the motion must be carried by majority vote of a public body's total membership before such a session may validly be held. The ensuing provisions of §105(1) specify and limit the subjects that may appropriately be considered during an executive session.
Second, although it is used frequently, the term "personnel" appears nowhere in the Open Meetings Law. Although one of the grounds for entry into executive session often relates to personnel matters, from my perspective, the term is overused and is frequently cited in a manner that is misleading or causes unnecessary confusion. To be sure, some issues involving "personnel" may be properly considered in an executive session; others, in my view, cannot. Further, certain matters that have nothing to do with personnel may be discussed in private under the provision that is ordinarily cited to discuss personnel.
The language of the so-called "personnel" exception, §105(1)(f) of the Open Meetings Law, is limited and precise. In terms of legislative history, as originally enacted, the provision in question permitted a public body to enter into an executive session to discuss:
"...the medical, financial, credit or employment history of any person or corporation, or matters leading to the appointment, employment, promotion, demotion, discipline, suspension, dismissal or removal of any person or corporation..."
Under the language quoted above, public bodies often convened executive sessions to discuss matters that dealt with "personnel" generally, tangentially, or in relation to policy concerns. However, the Committee consistently advised that the provision was intended largely to protect privacy and not to shield matters of policy under the guise of privacy.
With respect to the topics to which you referred, the subjects of grievances can vary greatly. Some might deal with policy, in which case it is unlikely that there would be a basis for entry into executive session. On the other hand, if a grievance relates to the health condition of a specific employee, I believe that there would be basis for conducting an executive session. When the discussion relates to raises, the question involves whether the matter relates to an individual’s performance, in which case the focus would be a “particular person” and in which there would be a proper basis for conducting an executive session, or whether the matter involves “across the board” raises, i.e., for all senior staff. In that latter instance, the focus would not involve any particular individual, and in my view, an executive session could not validly be held.
Lastly, when §105(1)(f) can properly be cited to conduct an executive session, see 4246 -2
I hope that I have been of assistance.