The Honorable Darrell J. Minott
Department of Labor
Carvel State Office Building
820 N. French Street, 6th floor
Wilmington, DE 19801
RE: Sworn Payroll Information 29 Del. C. § 10002
Dear Secretary Minott:
You have asked which portions of the payroll reports required under 29 Del. C. § 6912(c) are subject to public inspection and copying under the Delaware Freedom of Information Act, 29 Del. C. Ch. 100 ("FOIA"). For the reasons which follow, we conclude that the documents required under § 6912(c) to be filed with the Department of Labor by state agencies are public records with the exception of employee Social Security numbers. Twenty-nine Del. C. § 6912(c) specifically provides that each public construction project contract shall contain a stipulation that the sworn payroll information shall be submitted weekly to the Department of Labor. The information required by the Department of Labor includes the name, address and Social Security number of each employee working on the public project, the employee's work classification, total hours worked, rate of pay, gross amount earned, payroll deductions, types of fringe benefits provided and the cost of those fringe benefits.
As you are aware, § 6912(c) is a recent amendment to the prevailing wage law, and, accordingly, the question concerning which portions of the sworn payroll information are available for public inspection is a question of first impression. The purpose of FOIA is to
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