,-- THE ATTORNEY GENERAJ, 

OF TEXAS 

AUSJ~N. TPZXAS 78711 

aOEN L. a1L& 

A-- CImNmuAL 

June 12. 1975 

The Honorable Henry Rothell 

Administrator 

Texas Employment Commission 

Austin, Texas 

Dear Mr. Rothell: 

Opinion No. H- 626 

Re: Availability of unemployment compensation records. 

You have requested our opinion regarding the availability of unemployment compensation records. Specifically, you inquire whether you 

should disclose to (a) a member of the general public; (b) the employing unit; 

and, (c) the claimant any of the following records: 

(1) initial claim form and written statement of 

claimant; 

(2) employer’s written or oral protest to the 

initial claim; 

(3) investigation report regarding claimant’s 

eligibility for benefits; 

(4) weekly claim forms filed by claimant: 

(5) written determinations of the Commission; 

(6) written appeal statements of claimant; 

(7) written appeal statements of employer: and 

(8) written decisions of the Commission in regard 

to appeals. 

The Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, V. T. C. S., declares to be 

public, with certain specified exceptions, “all information collected, assembled, 

or maintained by governmental bodies pursuant to law or ordinance or in 

connection with the transaction of official business. ” Section 3(a)(l) of the Act 

excepts “information deemed confidential by law, either Constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision. ” Article 5221b-9, V. T. C. S., provides: 

p. 2772 
- . 

.fl. The Honorable Henry Rothell - Page 2 (H-626) 

.r--- 

(e) Records and Reports: Each employing unit 

shall keep true and accurate employment records, 

containing such information as the Commissioner 

may prescribe and which is deemed necessary to 

the proper administration of this Act. Such records 

shall be open to inspection and subject to being copied 

by the Commission or its authorieed representatives 

at any reasonable time and as often as may be necessary. 

The Commission may require from any employing unit 

any sworn or unsworn reports, with respect to persons 

employed by it, which the Commission deems necessary 

for the effective administration of this Act. Information 

thus obtained or otherwise secured shall not be published 

or be open to public inspection (other than to public 

employees in the performance of their public duties) 

except as the Commission may deem necessary for the 

proper administration of this Act. Any employee or 

member of the Commission who violates any provision 

of this subsection shall be fined not less than Twenty 

Dollars ($20), nor more than Two Hundred Dollars ($200), 

or imprisoned for not longer than ninety (90) days, or both. 

(Emphasis added.) 

We believe that the confidentiality provisions of article 5221b-9(e) 

except from disclosure to the gzmral public all of the listed records except 

items 5 and 8, as “information thus obtained or otherwise secured.” In 

our opinion, “information. . . otherwise secured” is sufficiently broad to 

embrace records pertaining to investigations by the Commission, as well 

as records obtained from either the claimant or the employing unit. It 

would appear that written determinations of the Commission, and written 

decisions of the Commission in regard to appeals should not be deemed 

“information. . . otherwise secured, ” and, as to such records, we believe 

that the Act requires their disclosure to members of the public generally. 

Some of this information, especially that related to the reasons for 

the claimant’s discharge, may constitute “private information of a highly 

objectionable kind, ” which we held to be excepted from disclosure in Open 

Records Decision No. 2 (1973). See also Billings v. Atkinson, 489 S. W. 2d 

858 (Tex. Sup. 1973). We cannot say, without examining the contents of a 

p. 2773 
- - 

The Honorable Henry Rothell - Page 3 (H-626) 

particular file, that certain information contained tberein falls within 

this kind of privacy exception. However, we believe that the strong 

possibility that it may do so, coupled with the confidentiality provisions 

of article 5221b-9(a), precludes the release to the general public of all 

of the listed records except items 5 and 8. 2. Attorney General Opinion 

No. H-404 (1974). 

As to the availability of these records to the employing unit and to 

the claimant, we believe that a different result may be required. In Attorney 

General Opinion No. H-249 (1974). we held that a client of the State Department of Public Welfare is in general entitled to access to information in his 

own file used in making a determination about him. The Opinion first quoted 

the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Greene v. McElroy, 360 U.S. 

474 (1959), in which Chief Justice Warren declared: 

Certain principles have remained relatively immutable 

in our jurisprudence. One of these is that where 

governmental action seriously injures an individual, 

and the reasonableness of the action depends on factfindings, the evidence used to prove the Government’s 

case must be disclosed to the individual so that he 

has an opportunity to show that it is untrue. 360 U.S. 

at 496. (Emphasis added.) 

The Opinion then concluded: 

. . . to the extent a decision denying or awarding 

benefits or other rights to a welfare client is based 

on information in his file, he is entitled to review all 

information entering into the decision, whether it is 

purely factual or not. H-249 at 1161. 

p. 2774 
,/-- The Honorable Henry Rothell - Page 4 (H-626) 

We believe that similar reasoning may be applied to require that 

both claimant and employing unit be granted access to each of the eight 

types of records about which you inquire when the record is used in the 

making of a determination concerning that individual or employer. Certain 

information is expressly made disclosable to the parties by the Unemployment 

Act: notice of the Commission’s determination and copies of the Commission’s 

findinga and decisions on appeal. V. T. C. S. art. 5221b-4(c) and (e). It is our 

opinion that the courts probably would require the disclosure to the parties of 

all the listed information. 

- 

SUMMARY 

Unemployment compensation records are in general 

available under the Open Records Act to the employing 

unit and to the claimant. Except for written determinations 

of the Commission, and written decisions of the Commission 

in regard to appeals, they are not available to members of 

the general public. 

Texas 

Opinion Committee 

jwb 

p. 2775