Michel v. Douglas, 61870
| Decision Date | 21 February 1985 |
| Docket Number | No. 61870,61870 |
| Citation | 464 So.2d 545,10 Fla. L. Weekly 129 |
| Parties | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 129 Dyer MICHEL, as Administrator and Custodian of Records of the Marion County Hospital District, d/b/a Munroe Regional Medical Center, Petitioner, v. Leroy DOUGLAS, Respondent. |
| Court | Florida Supreme Court |
William G. O'Neill and James A. Cornelius of O'Neill & Cornelius, Ocala, for petitioner.
John B. Fuller and Bryce W. Ackerman of Savage, Krim, Simons, Fuller & Ackerman, Ocala, for respondent.
Bruce Barkett, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, amicus curiae for State of Florida, ex rel. Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee.
W.E. Bishop, Jr. and John C. Moore of Bishop & Behnke, Ocala, amicus curiae for Pamela W. Davis, Director of Patient Care Services and Viola E. Hope, Nursing Assistant, Employees of Marion County Hospital District.
The following questions have been certified as being of great public importance:
I. ARE THE EMPLOYEE RECORDS, KEPT AS PART OF A TAX-SUPPORTED HOSPITAL'S PERMANENT FILES AND RECORDS, GENERALLY "PUBLIC RECORDS" WITHIN THE SCOPE OF CHAPTER 119?
II. ARE THE HOSPITAL'S EMPLOYEE RECORDS EXEMPTED FROM CHAPTER 119 BY SECTION 119.07(3)(a) OR BY SECTION 119.07(3)(f)?
III. SHOULD THE ACCESS TO THE PERSONNEL RECORDS UNDER CHAPTER 119 BE BARRED BECAUSE IT CONSTITUTES AN INVASION OF THE EMPLOYEES' FEDERALLY OR STATE PROTECTED RIGHT OF PRIVACY WHERE THE RECORDS MAY CONTAIN HARMFUL OR DAMAGING INFORMATION?
Douglas v. Michel, 410 So.2d 936, 940-941 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982). We have jurisdiction. Art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.
Douglas filed a petition for writ of mandamus, seeking access to the hospital district's personnel records pursuant to the Public Records Act, chapter 119, Florida Statutes (1979). After a hearing, the trial court denied the petition. On appeal, however, the district court reversed and ordered that Douglas be allowed to inspect the records.
We agree with the district court that those personnel records are public records within the meaning of chapter 119. News-Press Publishing Co. v. Wisher, 345 So.2d 646 (Fla.1977). See Shevin v. Byron, Harless, Schaffer, Reid & Associates, 379 So.2d 633 (Fla.1980). We therefore answer the first question in the affirmative.
The district court also found that no general or special law exempted these records from the operation of chapter 119. After studying the statutes, we again agree with the district court and answer the second question in the negative.
We now turn to the district court's third question. By its specific wording, article I, section 23 of the state constitution does not provide a right of privacy in public records. Additionally, we recently found no state or federal right of disclosural privacy to exist. Forsberg v. Housing Authority, 455 So.2d 373 (Fla.1984).
We find, however, that the right of access to personnel records as public records is not the right to rummage freely through public employees' personal lives. In Shevin v. Byron, Harless we defined public records as "material prepared in connection with official agency business which is intended to perpetuate, communicate, or formalize knowledge of some type." 379 So.2d at 640. 1 As pointed out by the district court in Roberts v. News-Press Publishing Co., 409 So.2d 1089, 1095 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 418 So.2d 1280 (Fla.1982), 2
We suggest, therefore, that public agencies monitor their personnel records and exclude information not related to their employees' qualifications for their jobs or to the performance of their jobs. Compare News-Press v. Wisher, 345 So.2d at 648 () This suggestion, however, is only that. We do not impose a duty on an agency to so act, and do not create or recognize a cause of action by an employee for the employer's failure to do so. What is kept in personnel files is largely a matter of judgment of the employer, but whatever is so kept is public record and subject to being published.
In the instant case we hold that Douglas must be given access to the requested personnel records.
It is so ordered.
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Table of cases
...690 (Tex. 1981), §6:62 Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Overstreet , 103 S.W.3d 31 (Ky. 2003), §10:46 Michel v. Douglas, 464 So.2d 545 (Fla. 1985), §5 : 72 Miller v. U.S. Steel , 902 F.2d 573 (7th Cir. 1990), §22:10 Montgomery County v. Microvote Corporation , 320 F.3d 440 ......
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Table of cases
...690 (Tex. 1981), §6:62 Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Overstreet , 103 S.W.3d 31 (Ky. 2003), §10:46 Michel v. Douglas, 464 So.2d 545 (Fla. 1985), §5 : 72 Miller v. U.S. Steel , 902 F.2d 573 (7th Cir. 1990), §22:10 Mohammed v. Otoadese , 738 N.W.2d 628 (Iowa 2007), §23:30 ......
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Table of cases
...690 (Tex. 1981), §6:62 Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Overstreet , 103 S.W.3d 31 (Ky. 2003), §10:46 Michel v. Douglas, 464 So.2d 545 (Fla. 1985), §5 : 72 Miller v. U.S. Steel , 902 F.2d 573 (7th Cir. 1990), §22:10 Mohammed v. Otoadese , 738 N.W.2d 628 (Iowa 2007), §23:30 ......
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Table of Cases
...690 (Tex. 1981), §6:62 Metropolitan Property & Casualty Insurance Co. v. Overstreet , 103 S.W.3d 31 (Ky. 2003), §10:46 Michel v. Douglas, 464 So.2d 545 (Fla. 1985), §5 : 72 Miller v. U.S. Steel , 902 F.2d 573 (7th Cir. 1990), §22:10 Mohammed v. Otoadese , 738 N.W.2d 628 (Iowa 2007), §23:30 ......