Court limits privacy of teacher pension records

ALBANY (AP) — New York’s highest court said the names and benefits of retired teachers in public pension plans should be made public.

The Court of Appeals said state law exempts from public disclosure only the home addresses, not the names of retirees who get benefits from the public employee retirement systems.

The court said the law does exempt both the names and addresses the survivors of a deceased retiree who are entitled to benefits.

The Empire Center, a fiscally conservative think tank, was denied the names by the state and city teachers’ retirement systems under the state Freedom of Information Law.

The teacher pension systems cited a 1983 top court ruling that shielded police retiree names and addresses. Lower courts agreed with that privacy argument.