Skip to main content Skip to office menu Skip to footer
Capital IconMinnesota Legislature

Office of the Revisor of Statutes

Chapter 13

Section 13.43

Topics

Recent History

13.43 PERSONNEL DATA.
    Subdivision 1. Definition. As used in this section, "personnel data" means data on individuals
collected because the individual is or was an employee of or an applicant for employment by,
performs services on a voluntary basis for, or acts as an independent contractor with a government
entity. Personnel data includes data submitted by an employee to a government entity as part of
an organized self-evaluation effort by the government entity to request suggestions from all
employees on ways to cut costs, make government more efficient, or improve the operation of
government. An employee who is identified in a suggestion shall have access to all data in the
suggestion except the identity of the employee making the suggestion.
    Subd. 2. Public data. (a) Except for employees described in subdivision 5 and subject to
the limitations described in subdivision 5a, the following personnel data on current and former
employees, volunteers, and independent contractors of a government entity is public:
    (1) name; employee identification number, which must not be the employee's Social Security
number; actual gross salary; salary range; contract fees; actual gross pension; the value and nature
of employer paid fringe benefits; and the basis for and the amount of any added remuneration,
including expense reimbursement, in addition to salary;
    (2) job title and bargaining unit; job description; education and training background; and
previous work experience;
    (3) date of first and last employment;
    (4) the existence and status of any complaints or charges against the employee, regardless of
whether the complaint or charge resulted in a disciplinary action;
    (5) the final disposition of any disciplinary action together with the specific reasons for
the action and data documenting the basis of the action, excluding data that would identify
confidential sources who are employees of the public body;
    (6) the terms of any agreement settling any dispute arising out of an employment relationship,
including a buyout agreement as defined in section 123B.143, subdivision 2, paragraph (a); except
that the agreement must include specific reasons for the agreement if it involves the payment of
more than $10,000 of public money;
    (7) work location; a work telephone number; badge number; and honors and awards
received; and
    (8) payroll time sheets or other comparable data that are only used to account for employee's
work time for payroll purposes, except to the extent that release of time sheet data would reveal
the employee's reasons for the use of sick or other medical leave or other not public data.
    (b) For purposes of this subdivision, a final disposition occurs when the government entity
makes its final decision about the disciplinary action, regardless of the possibility of any later
proceedings or court proceedings. In the case of arbitration proceedings arising under collective
bargaining agreements, a final disposition occurs at the conclusion of the arbitration proceedings,
or upon the failure of the employee to elect arbitration within the time provided by the collective
bargaining agreement. Final disposition includes a resignation by an individual when the
resignation occurs after the final decision of the government entity, or arbitrator.
    (c) The government entity may display a photograph of a current or former employee to a
prospective witness as part of the government entity's investigation of any complaint or charge
against the employee.
    (d) A complainant has access to a statement provided by the complainant to a government
entity in connection with a complaint or charge against an employee.
    (e) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), clause (5), upon completion of an investigation of a
complaint or charge against a public official, or if a public official resigns or is terminated from
employment while the complaint or charge is pending, all data relating to the complaint or charge
are public, unless access to the data would jeopardize an active investigation or reveal confidential
sources. For purposes of this paragraph, "public official" means:
    (1) the head of a state agency and deputy and assistant state agency heads;
    (2) members of boards or commissions required by law to be appointed by the governor or
other elective officers; and
    (3) executive or administrative heads of departments, bureaus, divisions, or institutions
within state government.
    Subd. 2a. Data disclosure by statewide pension plans. Notwithstanding any law to the
contrary, with respect to data collected and maintained on members, survivors, and beneficiaries
by statewide retirement systems that is classified as public data in accordance with subdivision
2, those retirement systems may be only required to disclose name, gross pension, and type
of benefit awarded, except as required by sections 13.03, subdivisions 4 and 6; and 13.05,
subdivisions 4 and 9
.
    Subd. 3. Applicant data. Except for applicants described in subdivision 5, the following
personnel data on current and former applicants for employment by a government entity is public:
veteran status; relevant test scores; rank on eligible list; job history; education and training; and
work availability. Names of applicants shall be private data except when certified as eligible for
appointment to a vacancy or when applicants are considered by the appointing authority to be
finalists for a position in public employment. For purposes of this subdivision, "finalist" means an
individual who is selected to be interviewed by the appointing authority prior to selection.
    Subd. 4. Other data. All other personnel data is private data on individuals but may be
released pursuant to a court order. Data pertaining to an employee's dependents are private data
on individuals.
    Subd. 5. Undercover law enforcement officer. All personnel data maintained by a
government entity relating to an individual employed as or an applicant for employment as an
undercover law enforcement officer are private data on individuals. When the individual is no
longer assigned to an undercover position, the data described in subdivisions 2 and 3 become
public unless the law enforcement agency determines that revealing the data would threaten the
personal safety of the officer or jeopardize an active investigation.
    Subd. 5a. Limitation on disclosure of certain personnel data. Notwithstanding any
other provision of this section, the following data relating to employees of a secure treatment
facility defined in section 253B.02, subdivision 18a, employees of a state correctional facility, or
employees of the Department of Corrections directly involved in supervision of offenders in the
community, shall not be disclosed to facility patients, corrections inmates, or other individuals
who facility or correction administrators reasonably believe will use the information to harass,
intimidate, or assault any of these employees: place where previous education or training
occurred; place of prior employment; and payroll timesheets or other comparable data, to the
extent that disclosure of payroll timesheets or other comparable data may disclose future work
assignments, home address or telephone number, the location of an employee during nonwork
hours, or the location of an employee's immediate family members.
    Subd. 6. Access by labor organizations. Personnel data may be disseminated to labor
organizations to the extent that the responsible authority determines that the dissemination is
necessary to conduct elections, notify employees of fair share fee assessments, and implement the
provisions of chapters 179 and 179A. Personnel data shall be disseminated to labor organizations
and to the Bureau of Mediation Services to the extent the dissemination is ordered or authorized
by the commissioner of the Bureau of Mediation Services.
    Subd. 7. Employee assistance data. All data created, collected or maintained by a
government entity to administer employee assistance programs similar to the one authorized by
section 43A.319 are classified as private, pursuant to section 13.02, subdivision 12. This section
shall not be interpreted to authorize the establishment of employee assistance programs.
    Subd. 8. Harassment data. When allegations of sexual or other types of harassment are
made against an employee, the employee does not have access to data that would identify the
complainant or other witnesses if the responsible authority determines that the employee's
access to that data would:
(1) threaten the personal safety of the complainant or a witness; or
(2) subject the complainant or witness to harassment.
If a disciplinary proceeding is initiated against the employee, data on the complainant or
witness shall be available to the employee as may be necessary for the employee to prepare for
the proceeding.
    Subd. 9. Peer counseling debriefing data. (a) Data acquired by a peer group member in a
public safety peer counseling debriefing is private data on the person being debriefed.
    (b) For purposes of this subdivision, "public safety peer counseling debriefing" means a
group process oriented debriefing session held for peace officers, firefighters, medical emergency
persons, dispatchers, or other persons involved with public safety emergency services, that is
established by any government entity providing public safety emergency services and is designed
to help a person who has suffered an occupation-related traumatic event begin the process of
healing and effectively dealing with posttraumatic stress.
    Subd. 10. Prohibition on agreements limiting disclosure or discussion of personnel data.
    (a) A government entity may not enter into an agreement settling a dispute arising out of the
employment relationship with the purpose or effect of limiting access to or disclosure of personnel
data or limiting the discussion of information or opinions related to personnel data. An agreement
or portion of an agreement that violates this paragraph is void and unenforceable.
    (b) Paragraph (a) applies to the following, but only to the extent that the data or information
could otherwise be made accessible to the public:
    (1) an agreement not to discuss, publicize, or comment on personnel data or information;
    (2) an agreement that limits the ability of the subject of personnel data to release or consent
to the release of data; or
    (3) any other provision of an agreement that has the effect of limiting the disclosure or
discussion of information that could otherwise be made accessible to the public, except a
provision that limits the ability of an employee to release or discuss private data that identifies
other employees.
    (c) Paragraph (a) also applies to a court order that contains terms or conditions prohibited by
paragraph (a).
    Subd. 11. Protection of employee or others. (a) If the responsible authority or designee of a
government entity reasonably determines that the release of personnel data is necessary to protect
an employee from harm to self or to protect another person who may be harmed by the employee,
data that are relevant to the concerns for safety may be released as provided in this subdivision.
    (b) The data may be released:
    (1) to the person who may be harmed and to an attorney representing the person when the
data are relevant to obtaining a restraining order;
    (2) to a prepetition screening team conducting an investigation of the employee under
section 253B.07, subdivision 1; or
    (3) to a court, law enforcement agency, or prosecuting authority.
    (c) Section 13.03, subdivision 4, paragraph (c), applies to data released under this
subdivision, except to the extent that the data have a more restrictive classification in the
possession of the agency or authority that receives the data. If the person who may be harmed or
the person's attorney receives data under this subdivision, the data may be used or released further
only to the extent necessary to protect the person from harm.
    Subd. 12. Sharing of law enforcement personnel background investigation data. A law
enforcement agency shall share data from a background investigation done under section 626.87
with the Peace Officer Standards and Training Board or with a law enforcement agency doing an
investigation of the subject of the data under section 626.87.
    Subd. 13. Dissemination of data to Department of Employment and Economic
Development. Private personnel data must be disclosed to the Department of Employment and
Economic Development for the purpose of administration of the unemployment benefits program
under chapter 268.
    Subd. 14. Maltreatment data. When a report of alleged maltreatment of a student in a school
facility, as defined in section 626.556, subdivision 2, paragraph (f), is made to the commissioner
of education under section 626.556, data that are relevant to a report of maltreatment and are
collected by the school facility about the person alleged to have committed maltreatment must
be provided to the commissioner of education upon request for purposes of an assessment or
investigation of the maltreatment report. Data received by the commissioner of education pursuant
to these assessments or investigations are classified under section 626.556.
    Subd. 15. Dissemination of data to law enforcement. Private personnel data, or data
on employees that are confidential data under section 13.39, may be disseminated to a law
enforcement agency for the purpose of reporting a crime or alleged crime committed by an
employee, or for the purpose of assisting law enforcement in the investigation of a crime
committed or allegedly committed by an employee.
    Subd. 16. School district or charter school disclosure of violence or inappropriate sexual
contact. The superintendent of a school district or the superintendent's designee, or a person
having administrative control of a charter school, must release to a requesting school district or
charter school private personnel data on a current or former employee related to acts of violence
toward or sexual contact with a student, if an investigation conducted by or on behalf of the
school district or law enforcement affirmed the allegations in writing prior to release and the
investigation resulted in the resignation of the subject of the data.
History: 1979 c 328 s 17; 1980 c 603 s 24,25,29; 1981 c 311 s 12,13,17,39; 1982 c 545 s
9,10,24; 1984 c 436 s 17; 1984 c 544 s 89; 1985 c 298 s 12; 1987 c 186 s 15; 1987 c 284 art 1 s
1; 1987 c 351 s 7; 1987 c 384 art 1 s 2; 1988 c 598 s 1; 1990 c 550 s 1; 1991 c 319 s 4-6; 1993 c
351 s 6,7; 1994 c 618 art 1 s 9; 1995 c 259 art 1 s 7-9; 1Sp1995 c 3 art 9 s 1; 1996 c 440 art 1 s
10-12; 1997 c 214 s 2; 1998 c 397 art 11 s 3; 1999 c 107 s 66; 1999 c 182 s 1; 1999 c 227 s 6;
1999 c 250 art 1 s 114; 2000 c 343 s 4; 2001 c 70 s 1; 2001 c 178 art 2 s 3; 2002 c 243 s 1; 2002 c
352 s 6; 2002 c 396 s 1; 2003 c 130 s 12; 1Sp2003 c 8 art 2 s 8; 2004 c 137 s 1; 2004 c 206 s 52;
2004 c 288 art 3 s 1,2; 2004 c 290 s 4,5; 2005 c 163 s 37-39; 2007 c 129 s 23-28

Official Publication of the State of Minnesota
Revisor of Statutes