UC Should Have an Interest in CalPERS Privacy Hearings

As noted many times on this blog, the wholesale release online of payroll and pension data BY NAME is a violation of personal privacy of employees and retirees and raises the threat of ID theft.  No private universities are forced to release such data.  None would do it voluntarily.  Indeed, no private employers of any type – including the newspapers that provide such databases – would do it for their own employees (although they clearly have the data).

Although UC has gone along with the wholesale disclosure of salary and pension data by name, a fuss has now been raised by CalPERS retirees about just such a practice.  It appears there will be legislative hearings on the issue in the next few months – as reported in the Sacramento Bee.  Even though UC is not under CalPERS, and even though the hearings will likely focus on retirees (and not employees), the issues are the same for both employees and retirees of UC as they are for retirees under CalPERS.  Will UC reps offer to take part and be witnesses at those hearings?  Note that the legislature can modify current public disclosure requirements.

The Sacramento Bee article is at http://blogs.sacbee.com/the_state_worker/2013/09/lawmakers-to-calpers-lets-talk-about-that-pension-database.html.