Mark W. Dobronski v. Federal Communications Commission, an Agency of the Executive Branch of the United States of America

The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) appeals a judgment compelling it to disclose an FCC employee’s sick leave records under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552 (1988). The FCC argues that the records are protected from disclosure under the FOIA’s personal privacy exemption. The district court found that the records did not contain protected personal medical information. We affirm.

Mark W. Dobronski is president of the American Private Radio Association (“APRA”), which publishes the APRA News, a monthly newsletter covering the FCC and its personnel. He brought this FOIA action seeking work attendance and sick leave records for an assistant bureau chief of the FCC’s Private Radio Bureau in Washington, D.C. He maintains that he needs the records to substantiate a “tip” he received that the assistant had been taking unaccrued sick leave and improperly using sick leave time to take paid vacations.

The FCC moved for summary judgment, claiming that the requested records are protected under Exemption 6 of the FOIA, which protects “personnel and medical files and similar files the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of…