Library: Policy

340:2-28-25.1. Privacy and confidentiality

Issued 9-15-20

(a) Filings under seal.Although the Office of Administrative Hearings: Child Support (OAH) court records are public records, per Section 32.1 of Title 12 of the Oklahoma Statutes (12 O.S. § 32.1) and 51 O.S. § 24A.30, OAH may order any material in the record sealed, per 12 O.S. §3226(C)(2) and 51 O.S. § 24A.29.

(1) Materials are not sealed when the administrative law judge (ALJ) determines that a reasonable redaction resolves the issue or that the request is overbroad, such as an attempt to seal a general category of materials.When the motion to seal is denied, OAH directs that the materials are stricken or unsealed, with or without redaction as directed by the ALJ.

(2) Any protective order that authorizes materials to be filed or admitted under seal identifies those materials.The protective order is accessible to the same extent as any other document in the OAH court record.

(3) When the motion to seal is granted, OAH retains authority to unseal the material or order the person who initially submitted the material to OAH to submit a redacted version into the record.This authority may be exercised either upon the court's own motion or pursuant to a party's written motion, served upon all non-moving pro se parties and attorneys of record, and subsequently approved after an ALJ hearing.

(b) Redaction.It is solely the responsibility of counsel and the parties to ensure that all filed pleadings, papers, exhibits, or other documents are redacted as permitted by these rules or the assigned ALJ.The party submitting the redacted documents must not redact the originals; the redaction is made on copies of the originals, with the redacted copies submitted in substitution for the originals.OAH personnel, including clerks and administrative law judges, do not review any document to verify redaction and have no duty to do so.

(1) The parties may refrain from including or may redact all but the last four digits, when inclusion is necessary, of the personal identifiers from any submission, such as Social Security, taxpayer identification, routing, or financial account numbers.

(2) When a filer includes personal information, such as Social Security numbers, tax identification numbers, routing numbers, financial account numbers, driver license numbers, dates of birth, addresses, or other sensitive information, in any document filed with OAH, electronically or otherwise, the document becomes a public record as filed.

(1) Filers make every effort to ensure they do not file a document other than the one intended to be filed, that it is filed in the correct case, and the document does not contain information that must be filed under seal or with redaction.

(2) When a document is filed into the wrong case, the OAH clerk is notified by submitting a "Notice of Erroneous Filing" in paper form into the correct case.The OAH clerk is authorized to move the document after inspection, without alteration; however, the OAH clerk may impose the correct OAH case number on the document in the upper right hand corner when necessary.The OAH clerk may move the document through electronic, mechanical, or a combination of the two means.The filer does not refile the document unless directed to do so.Alternatively, the OAH clerk, after inspection of the document, may decline to move the document when the "Notice of Erroneous Filing," itself, is in error.The "Notice of Erroneous Filing" may be obtained from the OAH clerk or found on the Oklahoma Department of Human Services website.The filer is required to provide copies of the "Notice of Erroneous Filing" to all other parties and attorneys and to file a certificate of mailing, delivery, or service in OAH.

(3) When the OAH clerk determines the requesting party's "Notice of Erroneous Filing" is in error and declines to move the document, he or she notifies the requesting party by correspondence, with a copy of the correspondence filed in the same case as the "Notice of Erroneous Filing."The requesting party may be required to provide copies of such correspondence to the other pro se parties and attorneys of record and file a certificate of mailing, delivery, or service in OAH.

(4) When OAH discovers a filing error, the OAH clerk may enter a "Notice of Erroneous Filing," move the document, notify the original filer, and file a certificate of mailing, delivery, or service.The original filer may be required to provide copies to the other pro se parties and attorneys of record and file a certificate of mailing, delivery, or service in OAH.

(d) Confidentiality.Nothing in this rule impacts the confidentiality of juvenile records or any other records the Legislature determined are confidential.