KOAA-TV is entitled to unredacted records concerning employees at the Colorado Mental Health Hospital in Pueblo, a judge ordered this week, rejecting a state agency’s claim that disclosure of their names is prohibited by the “personnel files” exemption in the Colorado Open Records Act.

Last fall, reporter Alasyn Zimmerman asked the Colorado Department of Human Services for applications and other records of hospital employees who had been placed on administrative leave, pending an investigation, since the start of 2021.

Although applications of state and local public employees are specifically excluded from CORA’s definition of confidential personnel files, the department redacted names and other identifying information from the records, asserting the employees “have a legitimate expectation of privacy” in the investigative process.