Edinboro University of Pennsylvania v. Ford
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
No. 837, C.D. 2010
April 21, 2011
The Commonwealth Court ruled that certified payroll records received by an agency from a private contractor but no longer in the possession of the agency qualified as public records. Therefore, the court said, they must be turned over to the requestor.
Background
Bret Ford filed a request with Edinboro University of Pennsylvania, a state university, under the Right to Know Law seeking payroll records related to a construction contractor the school hired to do maintenance work.
Edinboro denied the request, stating that it was no longer in possession of the records. Ford appealed to the Office of Open Records, who ordered Edinboro to provide the payroll records. Edinboro appealed.
Commonwealth Court Decision
The Right to Know Law defines a record as information that documents a government activity and which is “created, received or retained” by a government agency.
The court pointed out that the RTKL does not require that agency to maintain a record. Although the contractor created the records at issue, the university received them.
“Thus, under the RTKL,” the Court said, “the received certified payroll forms are public records for purposes of the RTKL, simply by virtue of the fact that they were received by Edinboro.”
The court further ruled that the records – which were held by the contractor – are public because they directly related to the school’s government function. According to the court, “as providing education is a governmental function, providing students with properly maintained buildings to facilitate such education is subsumed within the governmental function.”
As a result, the court affirmed the final determination of the Office of Open Records and ordered the disclosure of the payroll records.