Filing

ATTENTION ALL FILERS

IMPORTANT NOTICE

MANDATORY REDACTION OF CONFIDENTIAL & PRIVILEGED INFORMATION

Pursuant to the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. Chapter 132), all documents filed with the North Carolina Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) via eNCOAH are presumed to be public records. Unless explicitly exempted by state or federal law, or subject to an active Protective Order, documents filed here are subject to public inspection and copying.

THE FILER BEARS THE SOLE RESPONSIBILITY for protecting, omitting, or redacting non-public, privileged, and sensitive personal identifying information (PII) from all electronic filings prior to submission.

You must review and redact the following sensitive information BEFORE uploading, unless explicitly required by law or ordered by an Administrative Law Judge:

1. General Personal Identifying Information (PII):

• Social Security Numbers or Taxpayer Identification Numbers (use only the last four digits if required)
• Financial Account Numbers (checking, savings, credit card, etc.)
• Driver’s License, State ID, or Passport Numbers
• Dates of Birth (use only the year of birth if required)
• Names of minor children (use initials only)

2. State Employee Personnel Records (N.C.G.S. Chapter 126):

• Confidential personnel file information of state employees (including performance evaluations, disciplinary records, and medical leaves) is protected under N.C.G.S. § 126-22.
• Note for Contested Cases: If introducing personnel records of individuals who are not parties to the contested case, all identifying information must be strictly redacted, or the documents must be filed under seal pursuant to a Protective Order.

3. Health, Human Services & Education Records:

• Protected Health Information (PHI) and private medical records.
• Identifying information of applicants or recipients of social services or Medicaid programs, protected under N.C.G.S. § 108A-80.
• Student educational records protected by FERPA.

4. Proprietary Business Information:

• Trade secrets or proprietary commercial information designated as confidential under N.C.G.S. § 132-1.2.

FILER ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

1. The OAH Clerk's Office and administrative personnel will NOT review your filings to ensure compliance with confidentiality standards, nor will they redact information on your behalf.
2. Failure to redact confidential information may result in statutory privacy violations, exposure of sensitive data to the public, rejection of the filing, or sanctions imposed by the Presiding Administrative Law Judge.

[   ] I acknowledge that I have reviewed my documents and accept sole responsibility for redacting all confidential and privileged information before filing.