Painting Industry of Hawaii Market Recovery Fund v. United States Department of the Air Force

*1481 Opinion by Judge CYNTHIA HOLCOMB HALL; Concurrence by Judge WILLIAM A. NORRIS

We have before us two eases in which labor organizations seek to procure records from government agencies under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552 . They seek to glean insight into the government’s enforcement of prevailing wage standards for employees of government contractors. In' each case, the district court ruled for the labor organization and ordered the government agency to produce the information. We reverse.

I

In No. 90-16659, the Painting Industry of Hawaii Market Recovery Fund (“Recovery Fund”) sought disclosure from the Air Force of certain payroll information provided to the government by a private contractor working on a construction contract at Hiekam Air Force Base. The contractor was required to pay workers the prevailing wage for their work under the Davis-Bacon Act, 40 U.S.C. § 276a, and Federal Acquisition Regulations, 48 C.F.R. §§ 22.400-22.407 . Under the Copeland Anti-Kickback Act, 40 U.S.C. § 276c, the contractor was required to file “certified payroll records” with the contracting agency (here, the Air Force). These records contain detailed…

concurring:

I believe the critical question at issue is whether FOIA requires the government to release the payroll records with the individual employees’ home addresses included. Plaintiffs want the addresses to enable them to contact the workers directly to check the accuracy of the records submitted to the government, and to determine whether the agencies are doing a satisfactory job in discovering reporting violations such as job mis-classifications and secret kickback arrangements.

I come down on the side of nondisclosure because I believe that the release of home addresses would constitute a “clearly unwarranted” privacy invasion, outweighing even the public’s substantial interest in release of these records. 1 The invasion of privacy that results from disclosure of one’s home address is far more substantial than, say, the disclosure of one’s phone number. In contrast to phone numbers, home addresses are not routinely available. Many people choose to list their addresses in the phone book, but many do not. The reason is simple: publishing your phone number may invite annoying phone calls, but publishing your address can lead to far more intrusive breaches of priva *1487…