New York SBDC Research Network

From Open FOIL NY Open FOIL NY provides a convenient, centralized location to file a Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request to more than 50 New York State executive agencies and authorities. You can easily select a specific agency and submit a FOIL request. If the entity you seek is not listed, please access the New York State All Agencies website for more information. If you seek records from the following agencies, please visit their website before completing the web form, as certain records may be produced pursuant to a different statute, may require additional documentation or coordination, or have different fees: Department of Financial Services Department of Health Department of Labor Department of Motor Vehicles Department of Taxation and Finance Division of Military & Naval Affairs Higher Education Services Corporation Homes and Community Renewal New York State Insurance Fund New York State Police For more information about FOIL, please visit the follow

Interesting discussion on the BUSLIB listserv this week. Someone was working with students of an instructor who has assigned the "impossible assignment" of finding the "demographics for a given company: how many female employees, how many male, how many disabled, how many minorities/persons of color, and what positions these hold and salaries they make. The instructor insists that this is a doable assignment." Many companies give similar info annually to the US Government, such as to the Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO), but generally it is released only in aggregate form. Public companies are not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, even though they are "subject to more reporting requirements than private companies by virtue of the fact that their shares are publicly traded." However, the SEC does accept FOIA requests related to public companies for several reasons. Per the SEC: "A FOIA request is required to obt