§ 28-42-38 - Records and reports – Confidentiality of information.
SECTION 28-42-38
§ 28-42-38 Records and reports –Confidentiality of information. – (a) Every employer and every employing unit employing any person in employmentin this state shall keep true and accurate employment records of all personsemployed by him or her, and of the weekly hours worked for him or her by each,and of the weekly wages paid by him or her to each person; and every employerand employing unit shall keep records containing any other information that thedirector may prescribe. Those records shall at all times be available withinthis state and shall be open to inspection by the director or his or herauthorized representatives at any reasonable time and as often as the directorshall deem necessary.
(b) The director may require from any employer, or employingunit, employing any person in this state, any reports covering persons employedby him or her, on employment, wages, hours, unemployment, and related matterswhich the director deems necessary to the effective administration of chapters42 – 44 of this title.
(c) Information obtained, or information contained in otherrecords of the department obtained from any individual pursuant to theadministration of those chapters, shall be held confidential by the directorand shall not be published or be open to public inspection in any mannerrevealing the individual's or employing unit's identity, but any claimant at ahearing provided for in those chapters shall be supplied with information fromthose records of the extent necessary for the proper presentation of his or herclaim. Any department employee guilty of violating this provision shall besubject to the penalties provided in chapters 42 – 44 of this title;provided, that nothing contained in this subsection shall be construed toprevent:
(i) The director, or any qualified attorney whom the directorhas designated to represent him or her in any court of this state, or theattorney general, from making any record, report, or other information referredto in this section, available in any proceeding before any court of this statein any action to which the director is a party;
(ii) The director from making any record, report, or otherinformation referred to in this section, available to any agency of this stateor any agency of a political subdivision of this state charged with theadministration of public assistance within this state, or any of its politicalsubdivisions;
(iii) The director from making any record, report, or otherinformation referred to in this section available to the railroad retirementboard or to employees of the Internal Revenue Service in the performance oftheir public duties, and the director shall furnish, at the expense of therailroad retirement board or the Internal Revenue Service, copies of thoserecords, reports, or other information referred to in this section;
(iv) The director from making available upon request and on areimbursable basis, any record, report, or other information referred to inthis section to the federal Department of Health and Human Services inaccordance with the provisions of United States P.L. 100-485, Family SupportAct of 1988, or to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development andto authorized representatives of public housing agencies in accordance with theStewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11301 et seq.;
(v) The director from making available to the Division ofTaxation upon request of the tax administrator any record, report, or otherinformation referred to in Title 28, Chapter 42 for the purposes of compilingthe annual unified economic development budget report and performing therequirements under subsection 42-142-3(e); enforcing the provisions of Title28, Chapter 42; and/or performing any of its obligations under Title 44. Theinformation received by the Division of Taxation from the department of laborand training pursuant hereto pertaining to an individual employer shall be heldconfidential and shall not be open to public inspection. Nothing herein shallprohibit the disclosure of statistics and/or statistical data that do notdisclose the identity of individual employers and/or the contents of specificreturns.
(vi) The director from making, and the director shall make,reports in the form and containing any information that the federal SocialSecurity Administration may from time to time require, and complying with anyprovisions that the federal Social Security Administration may from time totime find necessary to assure the correctness and verification of thosereports. The director shall make available, upon request, to any agency of theUnited States charged with the administration of public works or assistancethrough public employment, the name, address, ordinary occupation, andemployment status of each recipient of unemployment compensation and astatement of that recipient's rights to further compensation under that law;
(vii) The director from conducting any investigations he orshe deems relevant in connection with these provisions;
(viii) The director from conducting any investigations he orshe deems relevant in connection with the performance of his or her dutiespursuant to the administration of the chapters 29, 32, 33, 34, 36, 37 and 41 ofthis title, or from making any record, report, or other information referred toin this section available to the Workers' Compensation Fraud Prevention Unitfor use in the performance of its duties under § 42-16.1-12; or
(ix) The director from forwarding, and the director shallforward to the jury commissioner, the names and addresses of all individualswho are receiving unemployment compensation on a yearly basis in accordancewith § 9-9-1(e).
(2) The director may publish in statistical form the resultsof any investigations without disclosing the identity of the individualsinvolved.