Attorney General rules hospital employees' salaries open

ATLANTA - The salaries of Elbert Memorial Hospital employees are open to the public, the state attorney general said Monday. <br> <br> The Elberton Star & Examiner asked for the salary information using Georgia&#39;s Open Records Act. <br> <br> But the northeast Georgia hospital said the information was ``an individual&#39;s financial data or information&#39;&#39; and was therefore exempt from disclosure under Georgia law. <br> <br> Attorney General Thurbert Baker disagreed and said ``the public has the right to know how much, in gross terms, it is paying for the services of public officials and employees.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> The Georgia Supreme Court ruled in 1984 that salary information at hospital authorities was open to the public. But the General Assembly amended the law two years ago to protect financial data from disclosure. <br> <br> The attorney general said Monday that the Legislature was trying to protect Social Security numbers, credit card numbers and bank account numbers not how much money a public employee earned. <br> <br> ``Had the General Assembly intended to include a public employee&#39;s gross salary among the excepted information, presumably it would have just said so directly,&#39;&#39; Baker wrote.

http://accesswdun.com/article/2002/12/186306