Mike Beaudet v. Human Resources Division (SPR 20180919)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 5, 2018 SPR18/919 Michele Heffernan, Esq. Deputy General Counsel Human Resources Division One Ashburton Place Boston, MA 02108 Dear Attorney Heffernan: I have received the petition of Mike Beaudet of WC VB-TV appealing the response of the Human Resources Division (Division) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § IOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on November 27, 2017, Mr. Beaudet requested an electronic copy of records/databases reflecting all terminations from January 1, 2016 to the present, including the reason for said termination. In a previous petition for an appeal, Mr. Beaudet informed this office that he is not requesting the names of those individuals who were terminated. Previous appeals The responsive record was the subject of previous appeals. See SPRl 7 /1739 Determination of the Supervisor (January 3, 2018); SPR18/080 Determination of the Supervisor (February 1, 2018; March 12, 2018). In my March Iih determination I declined to reverse my findings that the Division had not met its burden to show that Exemption (c ) applies to withhold the termination information of two agencies that is within the Division's possession. Mr. Beaudet informed this office he has yet to receive all responsive records and this appeal (SPR18/919) was opened as a result. Current appeal It is my understanding that on January 17, 2018, the Division provided Mr. Beaudet with a 124-page electronic spreadsheet revealing the employee terminations, names of the employers, the termination action descriptions and some of the descriptions of the reasons for termination. However, when providing the spreadsheet to Mr. Beaudet, the Division initially withheld the "general reason" for employment separation from certain of the agencies. One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 • (617) 727-2832• Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre• pre@sec.state.ma.us

Michele Heffernan, Esq. SPR18/919 Page 2 July 5, 2018 In a May 15, 2018 email to this office you indicate the Division provided Mr. Beaudet a spreadsheet on February 16, 2018 that "had no redactions since the same privacy concerns were not at issue due to the larger amount of data provided." In his appeal petition Mr. Beaudet explains that although he received the spreadsheet provided on February 16t\ the Division has not provided the "detailed information about why people were terminated." He notes that the Division is "not redacting anything in the spreadsheet, but they're also not including all the relevant information about terminations. For example, there were 3,000 plus resignations with no more specific details. I believe that the underlying reasons should be public as long as they are not attached to any names." I find the Division must confirm whether it possesses additional responsive information. The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian ofrecords at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § lO(a)(ii). If the Division intends to withhold any such remaining information, it must identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that it intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based. G. L. c. 66, § IO(b)(iv). I understand the Division was provided a copy of the file associated with this appeal and you indicated you would like to provide an additional response. Conclusion Accordingly, the Division is ordered to provide Mr. Beaudet with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@sec.state.ma. us. Sincerely, ·~~ Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Mike Beaudet