Granted/Reversed: W-2s showing school administrators' car mileage/car expenses
May 20, 2009 Filed in: Granted
| Appealed to
court | Court
reversed | Pocono
Mountain | Personal
information | W-2s | Other laws
Granted/Reversed: A request for
W-2 documents showing taxes withheld for mileage
reimbursement/automobile allowed for all
administrators at the Pocono Mountain School
District. The district had denied the request,
saying the information was exempt from disclosure
as personal financial information, and under the
federal Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act.
The Office of Open Record’s decision was reversed
by the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas.
From
the Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition
Granted/Reversed: A request for W-2 documents showing taxes withheld for mileage reimbursement/automobile allowance for all administrators at the Pocono Mountain School District. The district had denied the request, saying the information was exempt from disclosure as personal financial information, and under the federal Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act.
The Office of Open Records ruled that:
-- The school district did not prove that the requested information on W-2 forms is protected by from disclosure from the Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act, and the OOR determined that this act does not preclude disclosure of W-2 information.
-- The W-2 itself is not personal financial information. The OOR cited its determinations in two previous cases: Campbell vs. Berwick Area School District and Campbell vs. Souderton Area School District. "The school district's contention that no information on a W-2 may be disclosed because it is all personal financial information has already been addressed and rejected by the OOR."
"As discussed in Souderton, not all information relating to an individual's monetary resources rises to the level of personal financial information."
The Office of Open Records ruling was reversed by the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas, which agreed with the school district’s argument that all the information on a W-2 form was inherently personal. “The school district does not control how the employee treats the money for tax purposes,” the judge wrote in his opinion. “Clearly, this decision is a personal decision made by the employee. To allow Requester to have access to the W-2 form would make Requester privy to personal financial decisions made by the individual employee.” (Read the Pocono Record story on the decision.)
Zeldenrust vs. Pocono Mountain School District -- AP 2009-0305
APPEALED TO MONROE COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS: June 19, 2009
OVERTURNED IN MONROE COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS: Oct. 2, 2009
Granted/Reversed: A request for W-2 documents showing taxes withheld for mileage reimbursement/automobile allowance for all administrators at the Pocono Mountain School District. The district had denied the request, saying the information was exempt from disclosure as personal financial information, and under the federal Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act.
The Office of Open Records ruled that:
-- The school district did not prove that the requested information on W-2 forms is protected by from disclosure from the Privacy Act and Paperwork Reduction Act, and the OOR determined that this act does not preclude disclosure of W-2 information.
-- The W-2 itself is not personal financial information. The OOR cited its determinations in two previous cases: Campbell vs. Berwick Area School District and Campbell vs. Souderton Area School District. "The school district's contention that no information on a W-2 may be disclosed because it is all personal financial information has already been addressed and rejected by the OOR."
"As discussed in Souderton, not all information relating to an individual's monetary resources rises to the level of personal financial information."
The Office of Open Records ruling was reversed by the Monroe County Court of Common Pleas, which agreed with the school district’s argument that all the information on a W-2 form was inherently personal. “The school district does not control how the employee treats the money for tax purposes,” the judge wrote in his opinion. “Clearly, this decision is a personal decision made by the employee. To allow Requester to have access to the W-2 form would make Requester privy to personal financial decisions made by the individual employee.” (Read the Pocono Record story on the decision.)
Zeldenrust vs. Pocono Mountain School District -- AP 2009-0305
APPEALED TO MONROE COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS: June 19, 2009
OVERTURNED IN MONROE COUNTY COURT OF COMMON PLEAS: Oct. 2, 2009