Opinion
Opinion By: Gregory D. Stumbo, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that the Kentucky Department of Labor did not violate the Open Records Act in partially denying Lube B. Beadles' February 20, 2006, request for a copy of the "[c]ase file, including certified payroll, against Wayne Crider & Sons . . . for the Trigg County Water System Improvements Project." It is the decision of this office that 99-ORD-149, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is dispositive of the issue on appeal. At page 5 of that decision, this office concluded that the Department, formerly known as the Kentucky Labor Cabinet, "properly relied upon . . . KRS 337.345 in partially denying [a] request for all records in the [Department's] investigative file relating to the requested prevailing wage investigation." The cited confidentiality provision extends to certified payroll records as "information secured from inspection of the records . . . or from inspection of the employer's premises . . . ." KRS 337.345, incorporated into the Open Records Act by operation of KRS 61.878(1)(l), authorizes the Department to withhold the requested payroll records and we find no error in its decision to do so.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.