Section 161.3.2. Access to file information.

The disclosure of information, whether a charge has been filed or not, or revealing the contents of any file is prohibited except in the following circumstances:

       3.2(1) If a final decision per 161—subrule 2.1(10) has been reached, a party or a party’s attorney may, upon showing that a petition appealing the commission action has been filed, have access to the commission’s case file on that complaint.

       3.2(2) If a case has been approved for public hearing and the letter informing parties of this fact has been mailed, any party or party’s attorney may have access to file information through prehearing discovery measures provided in 161—subrule 4.2(2).

       3.2(3) If a decision rendered by the commission in a contested case has been appealed, any party or party’s attorney may, upon showing that the decision has been appealed, have access to the commission’s case file on that complaint.

The fact that copies of documents related to or gathered during an investigation of a complaint are introduced as evidence during the course of a contested case proceeding does not affect the confidential status of all other documents within the file which are not introduced as evidence.

       3.2(4) If the commission has issued a right-to-sue letter per subrule 3.9(3), a party or party’s attorney may have access to the commission’s case file on that complaint.

       3.2(5) Only upon written notification from an attorney or a party that the attorney represents may the attorney then obtain access to the commission case file on the same terms as that party.