Gov. Matt Bevin and the state education commissioner said Wednesday they were unaware the Kentucky Labor Cabinet had issued subpoenas to Jefferson and other school districts for the names of teachers who may have taken part in a wave of recent sickouts.

The cabinet issued the subpoenas Wednesday morning, according to a copy of the Jefferson County Public Schools subpoena obtained by the Courier Journal.

Bullitt County and Oldham County schools have also received subpoenas, the two districts confirmed.

Education Commissioner Wayne Lewis, who first requested teachers' names last month, said he had no involvement in the Labor Cabinet's decision.

Bevin, speaking to WHAS Radio's Terry Meiners on Wednesday evening, said he was not aware of the cabinet's subpoenas and called critics' claims that he was directing his administration to compile an enemies list "nonsense."

"It doesn’t make a lick of sense," Bevin said. "There’s nobody on any list. If anyone was sick and called in sick, they really have no reason to be concerned."

Is Kentucky out to punish teachers?:Education chief says no, still wants their names

Brent McKim, president of the Jefferson County Teachers Association, said in a statement that Bevin should put a stop to the cabinet's intervention.

"Both the Commissioner of Education and the Secretary of Labor are part of the same Executive Branch of Kentucky State Government under Governor Bevin," McKim said. "... So when Governor Bevin's Commissioner of Education assured educators consequences would not be pursued against them, then Governor Bevin should make certain that his Secretary of Labor honors that assurance."

The leader of the Labor Cabinet, Secretary David Dickerson, reports directly to Bevin. Lewis reports to the Kentucky Board of Education, whose members were appointed by Bevin.

The cabinet is requesting that JCPS hand over the names of all teachers who called in sick on dates the sickouts took place, beginning with the first on Feb. 28, as well as any documentation teachers provided that would prove they were actually sick.

The cabinet also wants copies of JCPS' sick leave policies and records of any conversations in which JCPS officials discussed whether to close school because of the sickouts.

The subpoena instructs the district not to disclose information about its contents to those affected by the requests because it could "hinder an ongoing investigation."

A spokeswoman for the Labor Cabinet said the matter had been referred to the Office of the Inspector General and declined to give further comment.

Check out:What will Kentucky's education chief do with 'sickout' teacher names?

The sickouts, which forced Kentucky's largest school district to shut down six times between Feb. 28 and March 14, drew ire from the governor and Lewis.

Lewis last month collected the names of teachers who may have participated in the sickouts from JCPS and nine other districts but said he wouldn't investigate individual teachers further if the protests stopped.

When announcing that decision, Lewis informed the affected districts that the Labor Cabinet could take action of its own, pointing to a law allowing the agency to issue fines of up to $1,000 against public workers engaged in strikes or illegal work stoppages.

Lewis, in Ashland on Wednesday for a meeting of the state education board, told the Courier Journal he learned of the subpoenas only after their existence was reported by the news media.

The cabinet's "decision to do this has not been influenced by me," he said. "I played no role in their decision making."

Lewis said that the cabinet was within its rights to request the sickout information but that he couldn't comment further because he had no knowledge of what it intended to do with the records.

"I haven't had any conversations with them," he said. "I don't know what their plans are."

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Mandy McLaren: 502-582-4525; mmclaren@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @mandy_mclaren. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/mandym.