The U.S. Supreme Court has issued a decision in a case involving the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that has significant implications for employers seeking to prevent the public disclosure of confidential information they are required to submit to the government. This could include so-called “Component 2” pay and hours-worked EEO-1 data, which EEO-1 filers must begin filing with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) later this year.
The ruling by the High Court in Food Marketing Institute v. Argus Leader Media holds that FOIA does not require an owner of confidential information to prove that the disclosure of that information to a third party is likely to result in “substantial competitive harm” in order to prevent its disclosure.
At issue in the case was the scope of FOIA Exemption 4, which prevents disclosure of trade secrets and confidential commercial or financial information. In reversing a federal appeals court ruling that had applied the “competitive harm” test in permitting the release of retail store-level sales data to a local newspaper over the stores’ strenuous objections, the Supreme Court points out that FOIA’s text makes no mention of a “competitive harm” requirement, and the rationale of the lower courts that have adopted the standard is iffy at best.
A copy of the Court’s ruling can be found here.
Members of the Center for Workplace Compliance (CWC) can read more here.