Basic Employee Information as of July 1, 2019
Charlie Kratovil made this OPRA request to Somerville Board of Education as part of a batch sent to 43 authorities This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Somerville Board of Education,
Under OPRA and the common law right of access, please provide documents, lists, reports or statements sufficient to show:
1) the name, title, department/division, current salary, and hire date for all salaried employees, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019
2) the name, title, department/division, current hourly rate, and hire date for all hourly employees, as of July 1, 2019
3) the names of all employees enrolled in each healthcare insurance program/plan, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019
4) the names of all employees currently enrolled in each public pension system, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019
5) the name and pay status of each employee currently suspended from duty, as of July 1, 2019
6) the total year-to-date base pay, overtime pay, and extra-duty pay for each employee, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019
7) the amount/value of all stipends, allowances, bonuses, reimbursements and other payments or perks granted each employee, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019
With regard to items #1-4 of this request, please only include records pertaining to current employees, and please do not include any employees whose term of employment ended prior to July 1, 2019. If employees have different rates of pay for different work or different roles, please indicate each of the pay rates in the response.
With regard to all of the items in this request, I prefer to receive the responses to this request in one or more Microsoft Excel spreadsheets if at all possible. Please feel free to contact me if I can be helpful in clarifying this request. Thanks very much and have a nice day.
Yours faithfully,
Charlie Kratovil
Editor, New Brunswick Today
732-993-9697
Dear Somerville Board of Education,
Please confirm you have received this request.
Yours faithfully,
Charlie Kratovil
Dear Mr. Kratovil,
This is in response to your OPRA request dated July 5, 2019. Please
accept my aplogies for not responding until today. Your request seeks:
1. The name, title, department/division, current salary, and hire
date for all salaried employees, including elected officials, as of July
1, 2019;
2. The name, title, department/division, current hourly rate, and
hire date for all hourly employees, as of July 1, 2019;
3. The names of all employees enrolled in each healthcare insurance
program/plan, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019;
4. The names of all employees currently enrolled in each public
pension system, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019;
5. The name and pay status of each employee currently suspended from
duty, as of July 1, 2019;
6. The total year-to-date base pay, overtime pay, and extra-duty pay
for each employee, including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019; and
7. The amount/value of all stipends, allowances, bonuses,
reimbursements and other payments or perks granted each employee,
including elected officials, as of July 1, 2019.
As to items #1, #2, #4, #6, and #7 above, we will produce the records, if
any. We kindly request an extension to Monday August 5, 2019 for
production due to the voluminous amount of records you seek.
As to item #3, we are prohibited from disclosing these records since such
disclosure would violate HIPAA regulations. Furthermore, pursuant to
N.J.A.C. 17:9-1.2(b), “to protect the personal privacy of individual
participants and their families, the mailing addresses of active and
retired participants and all matters regarding an individual’s files that
relate to an individual’s coverage and claims shall be maintained as
confidential. Protected health information shall not be released to any
person, except as permitted under HIPAA in response to a valid HIPAA
Authorization for Release of Information, in a form acceptable to the
Division, as described in 45 CFR 164.508, or as otherwise authorized by
HIPAA. The requesting party shall have the burden of demonstrating to the
satisfaction of the Division that the confidential materials may be
released under HIPAA.”
As to item #5, your request seeks personnel disciplinary records, which
are exempt from disclosure. “Records involving employee discipline or
investigations into employee misconduct are properly classified as
personnel records within the exemption from disclosure set forth at
N.J.S.A. 47:1A-10.” Riggins v. Borough of Jamesburg, GRC Complaint No.
2009-105.
Furthermore, we are required only to provide “identifiable” government
records. OPRA is not intended to be used as a research tool for litigants
to force government officials to identify and siphon useful information,
pursuant to MAG Entertainment, LLC v. Division of Alcoholic Beverage
Control, 375 N.J. Super 534 (App. Div. 2005). Your request does not
identify with any specificity or particularity the records that you seek;
rather, you ask the Board to pursue a fact-finding mission locating
identifiable employees.
Sincerely,
Bryan P. Boyce
Business Administrator/Board Secretary
Somerville Board of Education
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Mr. Kratovil,
Attached please find the response to your OPRA request dated July 5, 2019.
Sincerely,
Bryan P. Boyce
Business Administrator/Board Secretary
Somerville Board of Education