Privacy Issues in the Workplace

The Court of Appeal affirmed. The court held that the fact that the Commission did not have the power to appoint the Acting City Librarian did not prevent the Commission from meeting in closed session. Under the San Francisco City Charter, the Mayor shares the power of appointment with the Library Commission. The Court concluded that the Commission can nominate Department head candidates in closed session because such meetings are consistent with the purposes of Government Code section 54957, i.e., “to foster candid discussions by members of the legislative body concerning the qualifications of staff or prospective staff members without subjecting the latter to public embarrassment.” Moreover, the court held that the Brown Act makes clear that only the actual appointment, and not merely nomination, must be reported on the day of the nomination.

2. C ALIFORNIA P UBLIC R ECORDS A CT The California Public Records Act, Government Code section 6250 et seq., also requires employers to exercise caution in areas implicating employee privacy rights. In 1992 the Public Records Act was amended so that Government Code section 6252 now includes an expanded definition of local agencies covered by the Act. Non-profit organizations of local government agencies and officials that are supported solely by public funds are now encompassed within the Act’s parameters. The California Public Records Act 327 was enacted with the objective of increasing public access to government records. Like the federal Freedom of Information Act 328 upon which it was modeled, the general policy of the Act favors disclosure. 329 Support for refusal to disclose information “must be found, if at all, among the specific exceptions to the general policy that are enumerated in the Act.” 330 Effective 2016, the scope of the California Public Records Act was expanded to require local agencies, except a “local educational agency” to make an inventory and, based on this inventory, create a catalog of its data management systems, hardware, and software applications, which the amendment collectively labels as “enterprise systems.” 331 The agency must then post a catalogue of its enterprise systems on the agency’s website, with the purpose of making the agency’s data management system more transport. An enterprise system does not include cybersecurity systems, infrastructure and mechanical control systems, or physical access control systems such as video monitoring and employee ID systems. The Act applies to “public records,” which are defined as “any writing containing information relating to the conduct of the public’s business prepared, owned, used or retained by any state or local agency regardless of physical form or characteristics.” 332 The mere custody of a writing by a public agency does not make it a public record, but if a record is kept by an officer because it is necessary or convenient to the discharge of his official duty it is a public record. 333

In City of San Jose v. Superior Court 334 , the California Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal and held that communications by a city employee concerning public business on a

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