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Opinion Letter No. 94-21
November 15, 1994
Legislator’s Workers’ Compensation Claims Public
The OIP advised the Chief Clerk of the State House
of Representatives to make public the notices
that were filed concerning a former legislator’s work injury
that resulted in her receipt of workers’
compensation benefits, after segregating from the notices the legislator’s
home address, home
telephone number, date of birth, and social security number. In
two newspaper articles the former
legislator publicly acknowledged the receipt of workers’ compensation
benefits from the State of
Hawaii in connection with a heart attack she suffered in 1983 while
she was a State Representative.
The OIP found that while individuals have a significant
privacy interest in information concerning their
medical history, diagnosis, condition, evaluation or treatment,
this privacy interest was substantially
diminished when the former legislator publicly confirmed in a news
interview her work injury, a heart
attack, and her receipt of workers’ compensation benefits.
The OIP also found that the public interest
in disclosure of the reports at issue outweighed the former legislator’s
diminished privacy interest in
the reports. The OIP also explained that it would be issuing a separate
opinion letter concerning the
disclosure of basic workers’ compensation claim information
in cases where the claimant has not
publicly acknowledged the receipt of benefits and the nature of
the claimant’s work injury.
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