As it tries to wrangle its growing costs, the MBTA has publicly, and repeatedly, honed in on corralling excessive absenteeism and, to a related extent, determining who among the thousands of T employees who ?have been cleared to use the Family Medical Leave Act is ?actually eligible for it.

The T hired an outside firm, Morgan, Brown & Joy, to audit its policies and practices, identify “loopholes” and “ensure compliance with state and federal law.” In December, the T produced 21 recommendations the firm came up with, many of which the T is putting, or will put, in place.

But the full extent of Morgan, Brown & Joy’s findings has not been released, and the T is intent on that remaining the case. In December, following a Herald request, the MBTA cited attorney-client privilege in refusing to release the full findings.

Following a Herald appeal, the secretary of state’s office last month ruled that the T’s ?arguments were insufficient and ordered it released within 10 days.

At 5:03 p.m., on Day 10, the T sent a two-page letter doubling down on its argument that not only shouldn’t the “legal services agreement” be made public, but that it’s also part of “policy development,” meaning it ?falls into another potential exemption from the state’s public records law.

The document, the T argues, is so “interwoven with opinions and legal analysis,” it’s impossible to segregate it from ?what is not exempt from ?public disclosure.

“In short, the document is a memorandum provided by legal counsel and not a ‘consultant,’ at the request of the MBTA for legal advice and based upon confidential client-attorney communications,” MBTA General Counsel John Englander argued in a letter to Secretary of State William Galvin’s office.

But that argument doesn’t sync with what the T has already released publicly. In documents — including the MBTA’s Fiscal Management and Control Board’s first annual report — the T specifically refers to Morgan, Brown & Joy as a “Leave Management Consultant.”

The T also argues that the report was produced in confidence, a point Galvin’s office said wasn’t clear in its initial response. It’s an important point, the ?secretary of state noted, because the MBTA has already publicly released a summary of the ?recommendations.

The Herald is (again) ?appealing.

Reset your clock — forever?

Bay Staters awoke this morning losing an hour of sleep, thanks to daylight saving time pushing clocks ahead.

Tom Emswiler would have it never go back, if he could. The Quincy resident and health advocate, through his local senator, Tom Keenan, is pushing a bill that would create a commission to study moving Massachusetts permanently into Atlantic Standard Time, thus doing away with the biannual clock change.

Emswiler, a 35-year-old Washington, D.C., transplant, said it first occurred to him five years ago, when during his first December in Boston, he was ?“horrified” to see the sun set at ?4:11 p.m.

“Basically you’re giving millions of people jet lag all at the same time. The public health research is compelling,” he said, noting that the most “thoughtful critique” he’s heard of moving permanently to Atlantic time is come January, the sun wouldn’t rise until as late as 8:14 a.m. But that, of course, means a later sunset. “And more daylight at night could save lives, in regard to pedestrian traffic fatalities.

“This isn’t going to happen tomorrow or next week,” ?he said. “The key now is to ?build awareness.”

State House reporter Matt Stout can be reached at matthew.stout@bostonherald.com.