Request By:
Dr. Dwight Henn
Superintendent
Middlesboro Independent Schools
P.O. Box 959
Middlesboro, Kentucky 40965-0959
Opinion
Opinion By: David L. Armstrong, Attorney General; Thomas R. Emerson, Assistant Attorney General
Mr. Roger Alford has appealed to the Attorney General pursuant to KRS 61.880 your denial of his request to inspect certain records in your custody. He has described the documents in question as attendance records of teachers in the school system for a specific period of time.
In a letter to you dated July 23, 1986, Mr. Alford requested that you furnish him with copies of the attendance records of all teachers employed in your school system from August of 1984 through May of 1985.
You replied to Mr. Alford in a letter dated July 24, 1986, and advised him that, in your opinion, KRS 61.878(1)(a) is applicable to the request he made. You said that the public disclosure of personally identifiable attendance information would constitute an unwarranted invasion of the personal privacy of the teachers.
In his letter of appeal to this office, dated July 25, 1986, and received July 28, 1986, Mr. Alford cited OAG 84-161 and requested this office to consider whether teacher attendance records are public records subject to public inspection.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
While this office has said that a public employee's entire personnel file is not open to public inspection, we have consistently said that the public is entitled to know the name, position, work station and salary of governmental or public employees. See, for example, OAG 85-94 and OAG 76-717, copies of which are enclosed.
In OAG 84-161, copy enclosed, we dealt with the availability, under the Open Records Act, of the time sheets of public employees. At page two of that opinion we said in part as follows:
"Section 3 of the Kentucky Constitution provides that public emoluments or privileges may only be granted in consideration of public service. A public employee is therefore accountable to provide public service in exchange for the receipt of a wage payment from public funds. This accountability is established through the employee's time sheet. On that time sheet, the public employee verifies that he performed public service on certain hours and days, that he received compensatory time for public service worked above the standard workweek, and that he did not perform public service on certain hours and days and thereby forfeited vacation leave or sick leave. The time sheet thereby represents a confirmation of public funds expended for public service. It should therefore be available for public inspection under the Open Records law."
In the above-mentioned opinion this office also said that KRS 61.878(1)(a), the privacy exemption to public inspection, is not applicable where time sheets are involved. That statutory subsection protects a person against an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy but that protection does not extend to time spent in public service which is compensated by public funds and for which the public employee is accountable. The privacy exemption applies only to matters unrelated to the performance of a public job. The time a public employee spends performing a public service for which he is compensated by public funds is directly related to the performance of his public job.
While the public school teachers are not paid on a daily or weekly basis the teacher attendance records establish and verify that teachers were present and performing their jobs during any particular period of the school year and were therefore entitled to their salary during that particular time period. If they were not present, presumably the attendance sheets indicate the reason for the absence, such as the utilization of a sick day, and it can then be determined whether they are entitled to compensation for that particular time period. The attendance sheets represent a confirmation of public funds expended for public service rendered.
It is therefore the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial of the request to inspect teacher attendance records for a particular time period was improper under the Open Records Act as such documents are not protected by the privacy exemption [KRS 61.878(1)(a)] because the teachers, as public employees, are only entitled to compensation for services rendered and the attendance sheets verify that they were present and on the job during any particular time period.
As required by statute a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requesting party, Mr. Roger Alford. If you and the school system disagree with the provisions of this opinion, you may challenge the opinion in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) .