provide the public with access to public records which will enable citizens to observe and monitor state government. 29 Del. C. § 10001. Public records are defined in 29 Del. C. § 10002(d) as information of any kind relating to public business which is stored, recorded or reproduced. Further, public records must be "open to inspection and copying by any citizen of the State." 29 Del. C. § 10003(a).
There are statutory exemptions to public disclosure under FOIA which may appear to be applicable to the sworn payroll information. Twenty-nine Del. C. § 10002(d)(6) provides that "[a]ny records specifically exempted from public disclosure by statute or common law" are not subject to disclosure under FOIA. Id. However, this office is not aware of any statutory or common law privilege which may exempt the sworn payroll information from public disclosure. Under 29 Del. C. § 10002(d)(1), public records do not include:
Any personnel, medical or pupil file, the disclosure of which would constitute an invasion of personal privacy, under this legislation or under any State or federal law as it relates to personal privacy.
The purpose of this exemption is to protect personal privacy. Del. Solid Waste Authority v. News-Journal, Del. Supr., 480 A.2d 628, 631 (1984). Interpreting the personal privacy exemption in a statute similar to the Delaware FOIA, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled that the test for public disclosure is whether the information sought is "highly offensive to the ordinary reasonable person" and whether the information is truly "not of legitimate concern to the public." Perkins v. Freedom of Information Comm'n, Conn. Supr., 635 A.2d 783, 790 (1993)(citing Restatement (Second) of Torts § 652D).
When the Delaware prevailing wage law is silent on an issue, it is appropriate to consult federal law interpreting its purposes and policy. Attorney General Opinion No. 80-I023 (July 9, 1980). The Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. § 276(a), requires that laborers and mechanics be paid prevailing wages on federal construction projects. Each contractor and subcontractor on a federal construction project is required under the Davis-Bacon Act to submit a weekly statement regarding wages paid to each employee to the United States Secretary of Labor. 40 U.S.C. § 276(c). In Hopkins v. United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, 929 F.2d 81 (2d Cir. 1991), a union working on government construction projects requested copies of records prepared by HUD used to enforce the prevailing wage provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act. The court employed a balancing test and considered the privacy interest of the individuals versus the public interest in enforcing the prevailing wage laws and concluded that the enforcement of the prevailing wage laws outweighed the employees' privacy interest in restricting the dissemination of their names, addresses and other wage information. The union made its
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