Daniel Patrick Sheehan reports:
Responding to a Right-to-Know Law request from a government watchdog group, Catasauqua accidentally released unredacted W-2 tax forms of 70 employees and former employees, exposing their Social Security numbers and other personal data, a borough official confirmed.
Borough Manager Glenn Eckhart said the incident happened last month when the group, Open the Books, asked for employee salaries and the amount of money in the general fund and other accounts for 2024, all of which is public record.
Eckhart said employees determined the fastest way to provide the salary information was by providing redacted W-2 forms disclosing only salaries, but he acknowledged it should have been compiled a different way. Pennsylvania courts ruled more than a decade ago that employee tax forms, confidential under federal law, can’t be released even if redacted.
In this case, the forms weren’t redacted before they were emailed to the watchdog group. The error was quickly flagged and an unsuccessful attempt made to recall the email, Eckhart said.
Read more at The Morning Call.