Today, we added to our public pay databases the salaries of UNC Hospitals officials and employees. We've been collecting pay for most state employees and UNC system employees for years, but discovered recently that the hospitals were not part of those databases.
It's important to collect this data at least annually, because North Carolina's personnel law prevents the release of much beyond current pay and position. As a result, it's very difficult to track pay and position changes over time for the public employees in state and local government.
Our recent three-part series, Keeping Secrets, focuses on some of the troublesome consequences of the state's personnel law, which we found to be among the most secretive in the nation. Gov. Beverly Perdue and Senate leaders are talking about reforms this session to make personnel information such as salary and employment histories public.
You can find the UNC hospital data, which includes roughly 8,650 employees from the CEO to housekeepers, here.
Dan Kane has covered local and state government and N.C. State University at The News & Observer since joining our staff in 1997. Most recently, he and J. Andrew Curliss teamed to report “The Missing Money,” a three-part series that explored the state's growing number of tax breaks and the related rising revenue loss. Kane's reporting also exposed one of the worst academic fraud cases in U.S. higher education history at UNC-Chapel Hill. Contact him at
Comments
You say it's important,Dan Kane but you've never been more wrong
Thu, 05/27/2010 - 13:02 — llyndonWho is it important to? You? What's up with that? Get kicked off the school newspaper by the smart kids and feel you had to get back someway, someday and the people least likely to sqeak would be the ones who work the hardest for the least, have had to give up raises and accept furloughs? There you go, what a brave soul you are. And why did you feel the need to list our names, ages, classifiactions AND salarys? Why could you not just list each classification and the salary range or even break it up into ages, classes, salaries? Are you just bright enough to wield a pen but too stupid to operate a simple excell database? My 4 year old grand-daughter might be able to help you out with that but at 4 even she has a better honed instinct for what's acceptable human behavior. I'm all for transparency but heavens man! At its most basic level , this is a tasteless excersize in proving what a hack you are. Two short paragraphs and a damaging database and you think you will win a Pulitzer. Sit back down little man, you win nothing but the approbation of 8000 + members of your own community. Nicely done!
Very Low N&O
Wed, 05/26/2010 - 16:25 — natsmom07First of all, you should correct your article and your database, you aren't just listing the salaries of UNC Hospitals, but of UNC Healthcare as a whole. I don't work for UNC Hospitals, and my salary is on this database.
Secondly, As an employee of UNC Healthcare, I do not appreciate my information being put on a public database. I understand that the information is public to people who request it, but nothing in the statute states it's okay to list it on a public domain such as this.
I really don't understand why AGE has anything to do with this either, being pretty young to be where I am in this department, I already get enough slack from people who do know my age, because they don't understand how I got where I am today, I have been working in healthcare since the age of 18, and I worked very hard to get where I am, and I don't think AGE has a thing to do with someone's pay or their position here.
I love that we are considerered state employees when it comes to the furloughs and posting our information on the web, however we aren't considered state employees when they recieve a raise or bonus. The tax payers dollars do not pay my salary, the operating revenue of UNC Healthcare does. We do so much, for so little pay in comparison to other private hospitals and this is how you thank each of us for our work here?
Let me ask you this Mr. Kane, are you willing to post your salary for everyone to see?
Oh and PS- Everyone's salaries are NOT listed on this database, no one in my department could locate our COO. Nice work... leave out the salaries that are truly outrageous. Nice.
Misuse of FOIA laws
Wed, 05/26/2010 - 12:36 — RN4KidsNot only is this poor journalism, but a total of distortion of freedom of information and state laws. The intent of the legal standard is to protect the public's right to see where and how their taxes are spent and to be able to hold their government accountable. These people are NOT paid out of collected tax dollars, but are paid from revenue generated in operating a service organization. As someone previously commented... UNC Health System employees have only been considered truly state employees when taking away pay and NEVER when pay increases occurred.
The "journalist" is inappropriate in requesting and reporting this information that helps no one and clearly points out the SEVERE underpaid staff of the UNC Health System. These people work for less than market salaries to serve the people of the state who need it most... and you repay them by posting their embarrassingly low salaries for all to see. Nice job! N & O is grasping at straws to call this journalism and only trying to generate some sales through a misguided controversy... just lost a lot of future sales by angering more than 6,000 potential customers... and all of their family and friends in the community. Certainly lost my subscription renewal.
Unethical
Tue, 05/25/2010 - 00:17 — byronraphaelWhat he has done is unethical. He fails to explain the need to post NAMES and AGES of UNC Hospital employees. He is on some quest against state employees because of a few examples of abuse. He keeps pointing out that we need "transparency" in our government. Yes, we should know where our tax dollars are going, but why do the individual names have to be available? Dan Kane has failed to properly explain why the personal info can't be generalized. Do we know for a fact that our tax dollars are actually paying the salaries of all of these employees? I've heard they don't. He is creating news where there is none. People who choose to work at the hospital shouldn't have deal with this type of lazy reporting. He thinks that providing this information will lead to someone to do his research for him and find whatever evil misuse of tax money he has imagined.
Bad journalism
Mon, 05/24/2010 - 23:31 — badjournalismSpread the word everywhere to cancel subscriptions and boycot News and Observer. This is the most pathetic example of journalism I've ever seen. Sensationalizing peoples private information simply for the sake of generating revenue for the newspaper. These people work hard and save lives and Mr. Dan Kane has essentially shown total disrespect for their hard work, safety and well being. Isn't there more important things to do than ruining peoples lives. Do you think people will feel comfortable staying at UNC hospital after seeing this? Isn't that in itself an injustice? What is your grudge against UNC hospitals to try to damage it in this way? Public information was meant to be used as a way to insure the government is doing its job appropriately. It was not meant to be made easily accessible to everyone including people that may use it for dishonest and or malitious reasons. Gee, I can look up Mr. Kane's public tax records... should I post this as well? No, I have more morals than Mr. Kane and would not stoop to such a low, pathetic level. News and Observer can show good judgement by removing this immediately.
unbiased but candid
Mon, 05/24/2010 - 23:20 — unbiasedncfascinated by the responses here. Obviously people are pissed, but really ... think about it. Who really cares? this too shall pass. Our gulf is covered in oil, and there is someone out there thinking that it's humiliating to be the person getting paid $12 an hr. That person is doing the best they can do right now, apparently, what's humiliating about that? Oh, the 'pissed' person who's decided to boycott the world because of this....what is it that bothers you so? really, i'd like to know what the big deal is. The majority of those complaining, i'd be willing to bet has probably posted something personal or private on facebook that probably shouldn't have gone up online. The fact is, the world we live in is not the same and we're only as great as we are at our worst. I suggest each of you relax, move on and it won't take long for something new to become the center of attention and this will be forgotten.
You don't get it
Mon, 05/24/2010 - 23:39 — badjournalismIt should be noted that people on facebook have the choice to post their information. Mr. Dan Kane has further moved us to the big brother world by taking that choice away. It is a very sad day and Mr. Kane has reached a very low point in his career. I have no respect for journalist who try to make a name for themsleves at the expense of others. And just letting it fade away as you describe is such a cowardly response and why this world has so many problems... giving up and just saying that this is the way the world is now is such a weak excuse.
Unnecessary
Mon, 05/24/2010 - 21:45 — NClivingThe N&O should be embarrassed that they have nothing better to put in their database other than the very personal information of UNC employees. I could understand listing salaries with a position, but I don't understand the need for personal names and ages. It is not a technical violation, but it is a personal violation of the people in your community and your subscribers.I guess someone took a lot of their time to put this into a database, but I think that the N&O would do themselves and their community a service by taking this database off-line or at least removing the names and ages of UNC employees.UNC is a huge part of this community and this seems like a slap in the face to the employees of that great institution.
UNC Hospital Employees: State Employees or Not?
Mon, 05/24/2010 - 20:31 — aidelWhat strikes me as strange is that sometimes UNC Hospital employees are treated as state employees (for example, when there is a furlough, or publishing our personal information in the newspaper) but sometimes we are NOT considered state employees, like when it comes to automatic, percentile-based annual salary increases, bonuses for state workers, and many other benefits. Why is that?
Remember this: when you are an essential employee in a hospital, there are no weekends, holidays, vacation times. There are just days you work and days you don't work.
If you wanted to stir up some upset about the ridiculously large amount of money hospital executives make (and you'll get no argument from me there), why not just publish executive salaries and leave the people who REALLY run the hospital out of it.
While you're at it, publish the salaries of the basketball and football team coaches.
UNC actually does her part to provide health care to ALL people. It's a shame that the health care bill, which was supposed to be for the American people, turned out to be for the drug companies and insurance companies instead. You think this is a democracy? Follow the money and you'll see who runs this country. The opposite is true for the hospital -- look way down the scale -- at the nurses -- if you want to know who keeps UNC Hospitals afloat.
Protection for UNC Employees
Mon, 05/24/2010 - 13:56 — disappointed1As a UNC employee, I was disappointed in the way the N & O felt the need to publish UNC Hospital employees. As a state worker, I understand that I am a public servant (I already consider myself one anyways as I give myself to my community as Nurse) and that my salary and earnings are public domain. However, in an age where identity theft is rampant, I find what the N & O did by establishing a search engine that consists of all personal info, age, name, etc, a very dangerous and unneeded violation of personal security. In the hospital setting, patients are protected by using initials only, I am not sure why there was a need to post full names and age and why instead you couldn't post initials only such as JK 35M RN instead of listing a full name for the world to see. Heck, why you are at it, why not post our hospital id pictures and address for all the world to see. Furthermore, I don't see the value of posting this information to the public. Is the N&O so desperate for news stories that this is the best "investigative" reporting they could do. This type of reporting is something I would expect from some glamour faux news site such as the Star or the Enquirer, not from an established local news media. This is one UNC employee and public servant who you can guarantee will not purchase your services in the future. Oh yeah, and by the way, when did you last get a pay raise; as state workers, we sacrificed raises so that our state could help get the budget balanced. What has the N & O done to help that situation?
Oh but wait-your publication
Sun, 05/23/2010 - 12:21 — surgnurse2000Oh but wait-your publication posted the WRONG info regarding my employment. It stated incorrectly that I was demoted. I was never demoted. Is this not libel?
Data base of UNC employee pay
Sat, 05/22/2010 - 22:39 — pissedALL 8650 employees of UNC hospitals should boycott N & O and all business that sell N & O. I will no longer purchase any items from business' that sell N & O or advertise in N & O. I pledge to all that had their name published in this list to do the same and spread the word. All of my family has agreed to no longer eat at establishments that carry the N & O.
N&O Investigative Reporting: Lets humiliate the guy paid $12 hr
Fri, 05/21/2010 - 23:22 — jenuineWhen do you plan to publish salaries for N&O staff, CEOs, and housekeepers?