In a case published today, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers v. Superior County of Alameda County (August 27, 2007) WL 2410093, the California Supreme Court has ruled that the names and salaries of public employees are public records pursuant to the California Public Records Act. The case commenced when reporters for Contra Costa Newspapers requested that the City of Oakland provide them with the names, job titles, and gross salaries of all city employees who earned $100,000 or more in a fiscal year, including those who were paid such amounts due to overtime work. The City refused and the lawsuit ensued.
The California Supreme Court ruled that the public’s interest in knowing salary information of City employees outweighed the employees’ privacy rights. In particular, the decision addressed police officer salaries, the disclosure of which was held by the high court to not be an invasion of privacy because the public has a greater right to know how the government decides to spend tax dollars.
Of particular importance to the court were past Attorney General opinions and court decisions which held that salaries of public employees were “public information.” Because this information was presumed to be public, the public employees had no expectation that their salary information could remain private. In addition, many other cities and counties make public employee salaries available to the public
As a result of this decision, salary information, including overtime pay, for any public employee is public information and should be given to a member of the public who makes a Public Records Act request for that information. It remains to be seen whether other financial information, such as retirement plan investments, insurance plans, and benefits, will likewise be ruled to be public information.