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Rowland v. Commonwealth, Public School Employees' Retirement System

Pa. Commw. Ct.October 24, 2005Cited 20 times
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Case Details

Judge(s)
McGinley, Leavitt, McCloskey
Status — whether other courts must follow this ruling
Published
Procedural Posture — the stage the case had reached
appeal

Related Laws

No specific laws identified for this ruling.

Outcome

PSERS prevailed in denying the Association's request for annuitant addresses, dates of birth, and last employer information under the Right-to-Know Law. The court upheld PSERS' determination that such personal information is protected from disclosure to balance privacy interests with public access requirements.

What This Ruling Means

**What Happened:** The Public School Employees' Retirement System (PSERS) was asked to provide personal information about retired teachers and school employees, including their home addresses, birth dates, and where they last worked. An association wanted this information under Pennsylvania's Right-to-Know Law, which generally requires government agencies to share public records with anyone who requests them. **What the Court Decided:** The court sided with PSERS and said they did not have to release this personal information. The judge ruled that even though government records are usually public, retired employees' private details like addresses and birth dates should be protected. The court found that people's privacy rights outweighed the public's general right to access government information in this case. **Why This Matters for Workers:** This ruling protects retired public employees' personal information from being shared with outside groups or organizations. Workers can feel more confident that their pension system won't hand over their home addresses or other private details to just anyone who asks. This helps maintain privacy for retirees while still allowing appropriate public oversight of pension systems. It shows courts will balance transparency with workers' reasonable expectations of privacy.

This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.

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