Policy states severance records to be retained for 6 years - not 3

ERIN - The Town of Erin may have violated its own record retention policy by prematurely destroying documents, but officials will  not comment on that possibility.

“As this matter is currently in front of the Information and Privacy Commissioner, staff are respecting the process that is currently underway and will await further communications from the IPC,” stated Erin communications officer Jessica Spina.

Her statement was part of a June 3 email cancelling a pre-arranged interview with the Advertiser.

The newspaper requested an interview after discovering the town’s policy actually states records of severances paid to terminated employees should be retained for six years - and not three, as previously claimed by town employees.

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Erin officials have repeatedly echoed a sworn affidavit from town clerk Lisa Campion that states  Erin’s human resources record policy dictates the town must retain “all records regarding the employment history of municipal employees ... for three years from the date that the employee ceased to be employed.”

The affidavit, dated April 8 and drafted in response to an interim order from the IPC, notes that “any records beyond that period would be destroyed.”

That includes, Campion added, records from 2012 to early 2016 - a majority of the period for which the Advertiser was seeking town severance records.

However, the human resources section is just one of 14 in the town’s overall record retention policy (when the Advertiser initially  requested a copy of the policy, Erin officials sent just the HR portion; the newspaper received the full document after its second request).

Section F16 of the finance and accounting section specifically states “termination or severance pay” records are to be retained for six years after the end of the fiscal year. Therefore, if the town was following its policy, the only records covered by the newspaper’s request that could have been destroyed would be those for 2012 and early 2013.

Town officials will not confirm records were destroyed, but they also have not explained what happened to them, repeatedly stating a second search ordered by the IPC turned up just one record for a single employee.

Now, it seems, town officials may not answer questions until the IPC appeal is wrapped up.

The Advertiser has notified the IPC of Erin’s six-year retention policy and, before deciding how to proceed, has asked the IPC to enforce its March 8 interim order requiring the town to explain when the records were destroyed.

Background

In the fall of 2017 the Advertiser asked all Wellington County municipalities for the total amount of severances paid to terminated employees from Jan. 1, 2012 to Aug. 11, 2017.

The FOI request was made in response to what appeared to be a large number of firings by some area municipalities.

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Erin was the only one of eight municipalities in Wellington, including the county, that refused to provide the information. The newspaper then appealed Erin’s decision to the IPC.

The town’s IPC submissions, filed by Jody Johnson of the Bay Street law firm Aird and Berlis, argued unsuccessfully that the newspaper’s request was for a single document that does not exist – and the town is not required to create a record.

The Advertiser maintained town officials knew, or should have known, that fulfilling the FOI request would require a search for several records/documents.

The IPC ruled in the Advertiser’s favour and issued an interim order requiring the town to conduct another search and to submit an affidavit from the person(s) conducting the search.

During the IPC-ordered search, the town says it found just one record about a single employee. The town denied the Advertiser access to the record because it “relates to employment matters” and sharing it “would constitute an unjustified invasion of personal privacy.”

The IPC order also stated that if records once existed but were destroyed, the town must explain when that happened, as well its policies for record retention.

Campion’s affidavit provides no timeline, but states human resources records “would be destroyed,” after three years.