Racine Area Manufacturers and Commerce issued the following announcement on June 7.
On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a decision against WMC in the case of WMC v. Evers. The lawsuit – initially filed in 2020 – intended to stop the Evers Administration, specially the Department of Health Services, from releasing the names of businesses who had employees test positive for COVID-19 early in the pandemic. WMC filed the suit because the information could contain confidential medical records and would pose a severe reputational risk to affected businesses.
Justice Brian Hagedorn joined the three liberal Justices to make it a 4-3 decision.
The Court concluded that a specific statute in the Wisconsin open records law prohibits WMC and its two co-plaintiffs (two local chambers) from pursuing this lawsuit. The court reasoned that this statute generally prohibits pre-release lawsuits that seek to prevent the release of public records. The court concluded that WMC and the two co-plaintiffs do not fit any exception to this general prohibition.
WMC filed the lawsuit nearly two years ago after learning that the Evers Administration planned to release the names of more than 1,000 businesses if they had at least two employees who tested positive for COVID-19 – despite the fact that it is unknowable where the employees contracted the virus.
The potential release was in response to an Open Records request from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Evers Administration officials initially told WMC that they did not wish to release the information, but they fought hard in court to do so once the WMC legal challenge was filed.
“This type of release has the potential to spread false and misleading information that will damage the brands of Wisconsin employers,” said WMC President & CEO Kurt R. Bauer in October 2020. WMC argued the release of such data in the midst of the pandemic would cause significant financial and reputational harm to businesses who, in fact, had made significant investments to protect the health and safety of employees.
With the Supreme Court ruling, it is possible that the Evers Administration could provide such data to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and other media outlets. However, the Court did leave open the possibility that this lawsuit could proceed if individual patients were the plaintiffs.
“The governor’s attempt to shame and embarrass Wisconsin businesses is wrong, and the Supreme Court is equally wrong to allow it,” Bauer said after the decision was published earlier today.
Original source can be found here.
