State Univ. V. Employees' Retirement Bd.

Decision Date20 November 2007
Docket NumberNo. 107 MAP 2006.,107 MAP 2006.
Citation935 A.2d 530
PartiesThe PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY, Richard Althouse, Rodney A. Erickson, Joseph V. Paterno, and Gary C. Schultz, Appellants, v. STATE EMPLOYEES' RETIREMENT BOARD, Appellee, Jan Murphy and the Patriot-News Company, Intervenors.
CourtPennsylvania Supreme Court

Teri L. Henning, Esq., for Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

Craig James Staudenmaier, Esq., Nauman, Smith, Shissler & Hall, L.L.P., Harrisburg, for Patriot-News Co. and Jan Murphy.

BEFORE: CAPPY, C.J., and CASTILLE, SAYLOR, EAKIN, BAER, BALDWIN and FITZGERALD, JJ.

OPINION

Justice FITZGERALD.

We decide whether Pennsylvania's Right to Know Act (RTKA), 65 P.S. §§ 66.1-66.9, authorizes the release to news media of salary and related information pertaining to various employees of Pennsylvania State University (PSU). Commonwealth Court held the State Employees' Retirement Board properly decided to release the information. Appellants, PSU's head football coach and professor Joseph Paterno, executive vice-president/provost Rodney Erickson, senior vice-president/treasurer Gary Schultz, and former budget officer Richard Althouse filed this appeal, and we affirm.

Background:

The State Employees' Retirement System ("SERS") is the Commonwealth agency responsible for administering the Commonwealth's defined retirement benefit plan for individuals statutorily defined as "state employees." See 71 Pa.C.S. § 5102. Generally, in a defined benefit plan, such as that administered by SERS, retirees receive an annuity calculated (or "defined") by a formula, and paid according to the same. Under the Commonwealth's defined benefit plan, all contributions are commingled in the State Employees' Retirement Fund. SERS then uses the fund and investment returns thereon to pay the Commonwealth's pension obligations, i.e., each retired state employee's defined benefit. SERS explains that it invests the fund as a fungible whole to meet the Commonwealth's obligations. Thus there is no dispute here as to whether the fund at issue is public in nature. It is.

The RTKA provides that public records shall be accessible for public inspection and duplication. The RTKA excludes, however, any record as to which publication is restricted by law, or any disclosure that would operate to the prejudice or impairment of a person's reputation or personal security. 65 P.S. §§ 66.1-66.2. The intent of the RTKA is to allow individuals and entities access to public records to discover information about the workings of government, favoring transparency and public access regarding any expenditure of public funds. Sapp Roofing Co., Inc. v. Sheet Metal Workers' Intern. Ass'n, Local Union No. 12, 552 Pa. 105, 713 A.2d 627, 629 (1998) (plurality).

Although PSU is not currently subject to the RTKA as a Commonwealth agency,1 the parties have stipulated that PSU employees are eligible, but not required, to participate in the retirement plan operated and administered by SERS.2 Appellants in this matter each elected to participate in SERS,3 contributed to, and are guaranteed to derive a benefit from, the Commonwealth's retirement fund.4

On December 19, 2002, reporter Jan Murphy and the Patriot News Company ("Appellees") requested information from SERS pertaining to the Appellants' salaries and service history pursuant to the RTKA. Upon Appellants' Exceptions, however, the Board submitted the matter to a hearing examiner. Based on the examiner's recommendation, and pursuant to the RTKA, the Board ultimately granted Appellees' request for the information at issue. The Board concluded that the information sought was "public record" for purposes of the RTKA because information pertaining to Appellants' salary and service history fits the definition of an "account, voucher or contract dealing with the receipt or disbursement of funds by an agency." Pennsylvania State University v. State Employees' Retirement Bd., 880 A.2d 757, 764 (Pa.Commw.2005) (quoting 65 P.S. § 66.1). The Board further concluded that disclosure of Appellants' salary and service history is not precluded by the personal security exception to the RTKA. The Commonwealth Court affirmed, holding: "[b]ecause [Appellants'] compensation information is instrumental in calculating a defined benefit, to which they have a vested contractual right, and that right unquestionably involves the disbursement of Commonwealth funds, the compensation information falls within the definition of public record." Id. at 765 (emphasis in original). The court reasoned that salary alone is not so personal and inextricably linked to a person's identity as to threaten one's personal security, and that the salaries of every state employee are accessible as public record, allowing the public to meaningfully evaluate the wisdom and appropriateness of these state appropriations. Id. at 767.

I.

The central issue now before this Court is whether the public has a right to know the specific basis of guaranteed disbursements to certain individuals from the Commonwealth's retirement fund, notwithstanding any privacy interests affected thereby. We hold that the public does in fact have a right to such information to the extent necessary to justify all guaranteed disbursements from the fund. Our holding applies to names, service history and salaries, but does not extend to information pertinent to an individual's personal security such as addresses, telephone numbers, or social security numbers.

II.

The first question presented to the Court in this matter is whether the information sought constitutes public record under the RTKA? We hold that it does. The RTKA defines the term "public record" as:

[a]ny account, voucher or contract dealing with the receipt or disbursement of funds by an agency or its acquisition, use or disposal of services or of supplies, materials, equipment or other property and any minute, order or decision by an agency fixing the personal or property rights, privileges, immunities, duties or obligations of any person or group of persons: Provided, [t]hat the term "public records" . . . shall not include any record, document, material, exhibit, pleading, report, memorandum or other paper, access to or the publication of which is prohibited, restricted or forbidden by statute law or order or decree of court, or which would operate to the prejudice or impairment of a person's reputation or personal security. . . .

65 P.S. § 66.1. Where the RTKA specifies, for the benefit of the public and in favor of governmental transparency, that any account, voucher or contract dealing with the receipt or disbursement of funds by a Commonwealth agency constitutes public record, the RTKA encompasses all records in any format establishing contractual rights with respect to, detailing, or otherwise evidencing a Commonwealth agency's receipt and/or disbursement of funds. In addition, this Court has determined that the RTKA reaches materials that are not facially accounts, vouchers, or contracts, but nonetheless bear some close connection with one or more of these statutory categories. LaValle v. Office of General Counsel, 564 Pa. 482, 769 A.2d 449, 456 (2001).

Appropriately, in construing the Right to Know Act, the Commonwealth Court has consistently and properly held that the term "account" is to be broadly construed for the benefit of the public, encompassing, at minimum, the Commonwealth's financial records of debit and credit entries, as well as monetary receipts and disbursements. See LaValle v. Office of General Counsel of Com., 737 A.2d 330, 332 (Pa.Commw.1999) ("`account' is to be broadly construed, and need only constitute `records evidencing disbursement. . . .'"); Carbondale Tp. v. Murray, 64 Pa.Cmwlth. 465, 440 A.2d 1273, 1274 (1982) ("[w]ithout attempting to exhaust all of the acceptable definitions of the word `account,' we deem it sufficient for deciding the instant case to define `account' as a record of business dealings between parties"); Butera v. Com., Office of Budget, 29 Pa.Cmwlth. 343, 370 A.2d 1248, 1249 (1977) (the General Assembly intended the word "account" to include a record of debit and credit entries to cover transactions during a fiscal period of time). Because the word "account" can be properly defined in its ordinary sense to denote, inter alia, a list or enumeration of financial transactions,5 and because SERS participants make specified financial contributions to the retirement fund in exchange for specified financial returns, we do not hesitate to conclude that SERS necessarily maintains records establishing contractual rights with respect to, detailing, and evidencing monetary receipts and disbursements pertaining to every SERS member. There would be no basis upon which to calculate appropriate annuities otherwise. Moreover, as correctly stated by the Commonwealth Court below, Appellants have a vested contractual right, based upon these records, to the defined benefits which they have earned as state employees. Pennsylvania State University, 880 A.2d at 765. Therefore, because information pertaining to Appellants' salaries and service history is used to establish their contractual rights, and is detailed and evidenced in the form of records which otherwise fit the definition of "account, voucher or contract dealing with the receipt or disbursement of funds by an agency," the information in question qualifies as public record to the extent that it is not otherwise restricted by law.

We note that Appellants cite this Court's opinion in Tribune-Review Pub. Co. v. Department of Community and Economic Development, 580 Pa. 80, 859 A.2d 1261 (2004), for the proposition that information...

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