In Pa. Office of the Governor v. Brelje, 2024 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 65, at *1 (Commw. Ct. Feb. 23, 2024), the Office of Open Records (“OOR”) concluded that requests for all incoming and outgoing email for two agency employees over...more
Foster v. Pennridge School District, AP 2023-0931 (July 5, 2023). The Office of Open Records determined that a school district properly redacted and withheld certain email chains discussing the school district’s investigation...more
Iowa will soon be the sixth state in the nation with a comprehensive consumer privacy law – but the good news for employers is that it does not apply to data collected in the employment context and does not include a private...more
The so-called “HR exemption” taking employee and applicant personal information out of the control of the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) is about to come to an end. Employers who are “businesses” for purposes of the...more
The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) exemptions for employee and business-to-business Personal Information (PI) likely will not be extended. Aug. 31, 2022 was the last day for each house to pass bills, per the...more
In Weik v. Pennsylvania State Police, AP 2020-1139 (October 6, 2020), the Requester sought records related to a fatal police shooting. The State Police identified a responsive Incident Report, but denied the request, arguing,...more
In an important decision for all law enforcement agencies, the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County quashed a civil subpoena directed to a local police department. The subpoena sought a toxicology report that the...more
In California U. of Pennsylvania v. Bradshaw, 1491 C.D. 2018, 2019 WL 2305947, (Pa. Cmmw. May 31, 2019), the Commonwealth Court affirmed the Office of Open Records’ conclusion that “only the identities of natural persons are...more
When responding to RTKL requests, Open Records Officers biggest concern is inadvertently disclosing information that could put people in danger. While such records are generally exempt from disclosure, it is the agency’s...more
Under the RTKL (Sections 708(b)(12), 708(b)(17), Attorney-Client Privilege/Attorney-Work Product Doctrine) – Responding to Requests. Requesters, instead of seeking specific records, occasionally ask for a collection of...more
New development: President Trump signed the Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval on April 3, 2017. The Federal Communications Commission is now prohibited from promulgating rules “substantially similar” to...more
Following the U.S. Senate’s recent vote, the U.S. House of Representatives has now voted to overturn the FCC’s Broadband Privacy Order using the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Enacted in 1996, the CRA allows Congress to...more
Charter school managers and officials should be aware that the Executive Director of Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records has recently made public statements criticizing charter schools that take the position that they...more