Gov. employee birth dates are public under new law, agency finds

Pennsylvania’s brand new Office of Open Records ruled on Thursday that birth dates of the state’s employees and the names of its contractors are public under the newly revised Right-to-Know Law.

The decisions came in two appeals over the section of the law concerning personal information, said the Associated Press. One originated with a Pittsburgh television station that sought payroll records of the Port Authority of Allegheny County. The agency released the records but redacted the employees’ birth dates. 

The second appeal concerned a school district in Quakertown that redacted subcontractor employee names in a payroll request, according to the AP. The Right-to-Know Law shields from public view such information as employees’ Social Security numbers and home phone numbers, but it explicitly makes public their names, positions and salaries.

As far as birth records go, the law does not specifically mention an exemption from public disclosure. Alice Bishop, a school district open-records officer, told the AP "the law is kind of vague," but "now we know." The law went into effect on January 1.