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ACLU-NJ Seeks to Protect Privacy of Workers' Financial Information

For Immediate Release
June 1, 2006

NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties of Union of New Jersey today filed a friend-of-the-court brief seeking to protect the privacy rights of government employees whose personal financial information is being made publicly available under a new law.

At issue is the extent to which the government can require employees to release sensitive, private financial information about themselves and their families, and post that information on the Internet.

"The government has a right to collect information about employees to determine whether conflicts of interest exist, and the public should have access to most government-held information," said ACLU-NJ Legal Director Ed Barocas. "However, the government should not publicly disclose highly sensitive personal information that does not serve the public interest. We live in a time when disclosure of financial information -- particularly on the Internet -- makes people easy prey to identity thieves and others who seek to misuse this personal information."

Employees in the Casino Control Commission filed suit after the Legislature passed a statute, in accordance with Governor Corzine's Executive Order #1, which required the financial disclosure forms of all employees of the commission to be disclosed to the public via the Internet, with the exception of secretarial or clerical employees. Previously, the financial disclosure statements were not public and were obtained by the State Ethics Commission to ensure against conflicts of interests and to preserve integrity in government.

The information at issue may include whether employees owe money to relatives, how much or how little is in their bank account, where their children and spouse work, credit card debts, how much life insurance they have, any businesses a spouse has an ownership interest in, what stocks or bonds an employee owns and how much they owe on their mortgages.

The ACLU-NJ does not challenge the government's right to obtain the information. Rather, its brief addresses the extent of public disclosure of financial information that: 1) includes employees who are not decision-makers; 2) includes information unrelated to employees' jobs; and 3) is unlikely to be related to conflicts or impropriety. In New York State, for example, certain employees can be exempt from disclosing personal financial information that has "no material bearing on the discharge of the reporting person's official duties." New Jersey does not currently afford that protection.

The ACLU-NJ believes that, in general, government records should be public except when dealing with: 1) social security numbers; 2) medical information; 3) financial information; and 4) home addresses. This sensitive personal information should be made public only if the disclosure is necessary to shed light on the functioning of government -- such as the inclusion of home addresses in voting records (to ensure that the person voting lives in that district) or salaries paid to government employees.

The case is captioned Price, et al. v. Corzine, et al. It was filed in federal court in Trenton.