American Federation of State, County, & Municipal Employees, Council 75 v. City of Albany

This is a proceeding for a declaratory judgment under the Public Records Act. ORS 192.450(2); ORS 192.460. Plaintiff appeals from an adverse judgment,1 assigning as error the trial court’s refusal to require defendant to produce the Social Security numbers of its employes. The trial court held that federal law prohibits the production of the numbers. We reverse and remand.

In June and July, 1984, an agent of plaintiff asked to inspect defendant’s payroll records. Defendant refused on the ground that Social Security numbers are exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act as confidential…