When a state department surveys its employees about workplace conditions, are the questionnaires, answer sheets, and written comments public records, or are they confidential personnel records?

Plain-English summary

North Carolina's Department of Administration (DOA) generated a questionnaire, answer sheets, and comment sheets in an employee survey. The AG concluded they were public records under N.C.G.S. § 132-1 because an agency produced them in connection with its business. Under § 132-6, the public could inspect and copy them unless a statutory exception applied.

The relevant exception was the confidentiality of state employee personnel information under Chapter 126. The AG had examined the answer and comment sheets and said they did not appear on their face to contain confidential personnel information. The office lacked enough information about the survey's purpose, the intended use of the responses, and DOA's structure to decide whether any response or demographic details could identify an employee and relate to that employee's personnel matters.

The opinion set a narrow redaction rule for these records: if DOA had a reasonable basis to conclude that specific parts of the answer or comment sheets related to an identifiable employee's promotion, demotion, discipline, or performance, it could redact those parts. Without such a basis, the documents remained public without redaction. The opinion did not make a final finding that any particular response qualified for redaction.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 1999. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Were DOA's employee-survey materials public records?
A: Yes. The opinion said the questionnaire, answer sheets, and comment sheets were created by a state agency in the course of its business and fell within § 132-1's definition.

Q: Did the AG say all responses had to be disclosed in full?
A: The AG allowed redaction of specific parts if DOA had a reasonable basis to link them to an identifiable employee's promotion, demotion, discipline, or performance. The office lacked enough information to determine whether that applied to any particular response.

Q: Could demographic details matter?
A: Possibly. The office said it did not know enough about DOA's organization to decide whether demographic information could let a diligent researcher identify who completed an answer or comment sheet.

Q: Did the opinion address an anonymity promise to survey respondents?
A: No. The opinion did not say whether DOA made such a promise or analyze its legal effect. Its answer rested on the public-records statute and the personnel-information exception.

Background and statutory framework

N.C.G.S. §§ 132-1 and 132-6 supplied the public-records definition and inspection rule. The opinion cited § 126-22 for confidential personnel information and §§ 126-24 and 126-27 for restrictions on releasing it. It cited News and Observer Publishing Co. v. Poole for the requirement to disclose records that fit the public-records definition unless a clear statutory exception applies. The stored original begins with an editorial caption in place of the letter opening; that missing source material has not been reconstructed.

Citations

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-1
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 132-6
• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 126-22
• N.C. Gen. Stat. §§ 126-24 and 126-27
• News and Observer Publishing Co. v. Poole, 330 N.C. 465 (1992)

Source

• Landing page: https://ncdoj.gov/opinions/confidentiality-of-department-of-administration-document-relating-to-survey/

Original opinion text

[Caption and salutation as scraped from the NCDOJ landing page.]

N.C.G.S. § 132-1 defines public records as follows: 'Public record' or 'public records' shall mean all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, photographs, films, sound recordings, magnetic or other tapes, electronic data-processing records, artifacts, or other documentary material, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions.

N.C.G.S. § 132-6 provides, in part:

Every custodian of public records shall permit any record in the custodian's custody to be inspected and examined at reasonable times and under reasonable supervision by any person, and shall, as promptly as possible, furnish copies thereof upon payment of any fees as may be prescribed by law.

It is clear from these statutes that the questionnaire, answer sheets and comment sheets generated by DOA as part of the employee survey are public records since they were produced by an agency of the State in connection with the business of that agency. In the absence of a clear statutory exemption or exception, documents falling within the definition of "public records" must be made available for public inspection. See, News and Observer Publishing Co. v. Poole, 330 N.C. 465 (1992).

Article 7 of Chapter 126 — Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records

The personnel files of State employees constitute one of the principal exceptions to the Public Records Law. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 126-22, information gathered by DOA that relates to an employee's "application, selection or nonselection, promotion, demotion, transfer, leave, salary, suspension, performance evaluation form, disciplinary action and termination of employment wherever located and in whatever form" is not a public record. The release of such information to the public, except for certain "directory" information (name, title, etc.), is prohibited. N.C.G.S. §§ 126-24 and 27.

DISCUSSION

Except to the extent some parts of the questionnaire, answer sheets and comment sheets generated as part of this survey can reasonably be said to relate to the selection, promotion, demotion, discipline, or performance of an identifiable DOA employee within the meaning of N.C.G.S. § 126-22, these documents are plainly public records. The answer sheets and comment sheets we have examined do not appear to contain any information which would be confidential personnel information within the meaning of N.C.G.S. § 126-22. However, we do not have sufficient information about the purpose for which the survey was conducted or the use DOA intends to make of the information in the survey responses to make that determination. Likewise, we do not have sufficient knowledge of DOA's structure or organization to determine whether the demographic information contained in the answer sheets could allow a diligent researcher to identify the DOA employee who prepared a particular answer sheet or comment sheet.

In sum, the questionnaire, answer sheets and comment sheets are public records which members of the public are entitled to examine and copy. If DOA has a reasonable basis for concluding that specific parts of the answer sheets and comment sheets are related to the promotion, demotion, discipline or performance of personally identifiable DOA employees, you may redact that specific part from the documents. If there is no reasonable basis for reaching that conclusion, the unredacted documents are public records.

If you have any further questions, please advise.

Very truly yours,

Andrew A. Vanore, Jr.
General Counsel

AAVjr/jt
Mr. R. Glen Peterson
January 12, 1999