Advisory Opinion 03-008

Facts and Procedural History:

On February 14, 2003, IPAD received an email from Gail Olson, General Counsel for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU). In her email, Ms. Olson asked the Commissioner to issue an advisory opinion regarding the classification of certain data that MnSCU maintains. After discussion with IPAD staff, Ms. Olson revised her request in an email dated February 18, 2003. Then, after further discussion with IPAD staff, Ms. Olson, in an email dated March 6, 2003, requested that the Commissioner address another issue in the opinion. IPAD withdrew Ms. Olson's original request and incorporated both issues into a new request. Gary Hill of KSTP-TV contacted IPAD and asked to submit comments, which Paul Hannah, an attorney, provided in a letter dated March 20, 2003.

A summary of the facts as Ms. Olson submitted them is as follows. In her February 18, 2003, email, Ms. Olson wrote:

...A media source has requested data from MnSCU about professors at St. Cloud State University and Metropolitan State University affected by the Inter Faculty Organization contract (IFO/MNSCU Agreement 2001-2003. [The IFO is the Inter Faculty Organization, the bargaining group for state university faculty. The IFO/MNSCU Agreement referred to is the collective bargaining agreement.]

The requester states they are seeking information about those professors affected by the 'career steps' provision...in that contract agreement. I'd like to know their names, what department they work in, what their education degrees are, their date of employment, their 2002 base salary, and their 2003 base salary.

In a February 25, 2003, email, in regard to Issue 2, Ms. Olson wrote:

There are frequent requests for salary data, and we would like to have clarification as to how that term should be applied, and whether the various components of an employee's salary (such as base pay, merit increases, COLI increases, overtime pay) are separately identifiable, public information.

The relevant language in the IFO/MnSCU agreement states:

All faculty members who have completed ten (10) years of service shall receive two (2) additional steps on the salary schedule at the beginning of their eleventh (11) year of service. Faculty members who have completed twenty (20) years of service shall receive an additional two (2) steps on the salary schedule at the beginning of their twenty-first year of service. Faculty members who have completed thirty (30) years of service shall receive an additional two (2) steps on the salary schedule at the beginning of their thirty-first year of service.

Issues:

In her request for an opinion, Ms. Olson asked the Commissioner to address the following issues:

What is the classification of the following data that the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities maintains: the identities of professors affected by the career steps provision in the Inter Faculty Organization contract (IFO/MnSCU Agreement 2001-2003)? Given the language of Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(1), what compensation data about public employees are public?

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Discussion:

Issue 1: What is the classification of the following data that the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities maintains: the identity of professors affected by the career steps provision in the Inter Faculty Organization contract (IFO/MnSCU Agreement 2001-2003)?

Data about current and former employees are classified pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43 (personnel data). Subdivision 2 of section 13.43 enumerates the types of personnel data that are public. Subdivision 4 of section 13.43 classifies most other types of personnel data as private.

Pursuant to subdivision 2(a)(2), an employee's bargaining unit is public data. Pursuant to subdivision 2(a)(3), an employee's date of first and last employment is public data.

In addition, pursuant to section 13.03, subdivision 1, the IFO/MnSCU 2001-2003 agreement is public data.

As the IFO/MnSCU agreement provides, those MnSCU faculty whose bargaining unit is IFO and who recently have completed ten and twenty years of service receive additional steps on the salary schedule. In essence, KSTP-TV is asking MnSCU for the names of faculty whom MnSCU has employed for ten years and the names of faculty whom MnSCU has employed for twenty years. These data clearly are public.

The remaining question, however, is whether MnSCU maintains the data in the way in which KSTP-TV requested them. As the Commissioner previously has stated, Chapter 13 does not require government entities to create new data or create data in a particular format specified by a requestor.

In Advisory Opinion 97-005, the Commissioner wrote:

If Carver County does not have the requested data sorted or formatted according to the specific years that employees worked for the County, then it may be necessary for Mr. Michels to inspect data relating to all current and former employees and make the employment-date determination himself. Mr. Michels should be granted access to such information because the date of first and last employment are public pursuant to Section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(3). Further, if Carver County does not format or sort its personnel data according to the specific departments in which the various employees have worked, it may again be necessary for Mr. Michels to sort through data about all employees. Presumably, Mr. Michels would be able to determine which employees worked at the Sheriff's department because the job title and job description of all public employees are public data pursuant to Section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(2). In conclusion, most of the data requested by Mr. Michels are public. If those data exist, then Carver County must find a way to make them available for Mr. Michels' inspection, free of charge.

If MnSCU does not maintain data in such a way that it can provide a list of all faculty covered under the IFO bargaining unit who recently have completed either ten or twenty years of service, it is not obligated to provide such a list. However, because all the data elements are public, MnSCU is required to provide the names of all faculty, their bargaining units, and their dates of first employment.

Issue 2: Given the language of Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(1), what compensation data about public employees are public?

Section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(1), states that the following data are public: actual gross salary; salary range; contract fees; actual gross pension; the value and nature of employer paid fringe benefits; and the basis for and the amount of any added remuneration, including expense reimbursements, in addition to salary.

It is the Commissioner's opinion that the Legislature intended to make public all of the various types of compensation afforded to public employees and to make public the basis for that compensation. A practical application suggests that each component of an employee's compensation fits into one of the categories the Legislature included in subdivision 2(a)(1). For purposes of this opinion, the commissioner will limit his remarks to a discussion of two categories: actual gross salary and added remuneration.

It appears to the Commissioner that actual gross salary describes that portion of an employee's compensation which is fixed and paid on a regular basis. It follows that the basis for a change in an employee's actual gross salary also is public because the underlying reasons for any such change are public, e.g., a change in the contract of the employee's bargaining unit, a change in the employee's length of service, a change in the employee's job title.

Data about any remuneration an employee receives in addition to his/her actual gross salary also are public. Added remunerations, as opposed to actual gross salary, are not necessarily fixed or regular, e.g., merit increases, overtime pay. In addition to the dollar amount of any added remuneration, a description of the type of remuneration also is public.

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Opinion:

Based on the facts and information provided, my opinion on the issues that Ms. Olson raised is as follows:

Pursuant to Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, the identities of professors affected by the career steps provision in the Inter Faculty Organization contract (IFO/MnSCU Agreement 2001-2003) are public. Given the language of Minnesota Statutes, section 13.43, subdivision 2(a)(1), all compensation data about public employees are public.

Signed:

Brian J. Lamb
Commissioner

Dated: April 3, 2003

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