Heritage Petroleum Ltd, a state-owned energy company, has been ordered to reconsider its decision not to disclose a list of its employees and their corresponding salaries. The order was upheld on March 27 by Appellate Judges Nolan Bereaux, Mark Mohammed, and James Aboud. The appeal emanated from former government minister and social activist Devant Maharaj who had requested such information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in late 2018.
When the company did not respond to Maharaj’s request in a timely manner, a lawsuit was filed. The company eventually provided most of the requested information but declined to reveal the employee listing and their salary packages, asserting that such data was personal and exempt from disclosure.
The High Court Judge assigned to the case sided with Maharaj, agreeing that the company had failed to fulfill its duty under Section 35 of the FOIA to consider whether public interest concerns warranted the disclosure of normally exempted documents. However, the company was found to have satisfied its statutory requirement to redact a document to make it non-exempt.
The judges have now ordered Heritage Petroleum Ltd to reconsider its decision, basing it on the public interest provision of the legislation. The company is in the best position to weigh the pros and cons, given its knowledge of the personnel information of the employees it employs.
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