Requiring job applicants to pee in a cup to test for drugs and randomly selecting current public employees to do the same is unconstitutional, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday after filing a federal lawsuit to stop the practice ordered by Gov. Rick Scott.
In what is expected to be a series of lawsuits on recently passed legislation and gubernatorial edicts, the ACLU called on a federal judge in Miami to immediately suspend an executive order signed by Scott in March that requires all agencies to set up random drug-testing protocols for existing workers and requires new hires to submit to drug tests as a condition of their employment.
In doing so, Scott has not only pushed the envelope over who can be tested, but has acted counter to multiple court rulings that require some probable cause or special circumstance before drug tests can be administered, Peter Walsh, an attorney representing the ACLU, told reporters Wednesday.
This is a case in which the office of the governor has ripped the envelope apart, said Walsh.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Scott responded that Floridians overwhelmingly support drug-testing for state workers. She said the governor, who has required testing for new hires since he took office, is confident the executive order will withstand court scrutiny.
Theres an odd hypocrisy here, said spokeswoman Amy Graham. The ACLU supports all kinds of mandatory disclosures by public employees, but not the most important disclosure -- whether or not theyre fit to be in the work force.
Scott signed the executive order March 22, giving agencies 60 days to begin testing new hires, an increasingly common practice in the private sector. Agencies must give existing employees another 60 days' notice before beginning random tests.
The taxpayers of Florida are entitled to expect that Floridas public-sector employers be provided the same tools that are now available to private-sector employers to ensure their work force is drug free, the executive order reads.
The ACLU filed the case on behalf of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 79, which represents 50,000 public workers who are now subject to the new drug-testing regime and Richard Flamm, a 17-year state employee and Research Scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
It is an unnecessary and costly invasion of the basic privacy and dignity of all state workers to force us to submit to tests of our bodily fluids with absolutely no just cause, Flamm said.
The suit contends that previous federal court decisions have clearly ruled thatsome type of suspicion or a genuine public need must be proven before drug tests can be required without cause.
The Supreme Court of the United States has held that suspicionless drug-testing by the government is an unreasonable search (in violation) of the Fourth Amendment, except under certain special circumstances, such as those involving employees in safety-sensitive positions where there is a concrete danger of real harm, the lawsuit reads.
The complaint is expected to be followed in the weeks ahead by other lawsuits in an attempt to overturn a tsunami of anti-civil liberties legislation passed by lawmakers during Scotts first few months in office dealing with abortion, elections, and free speech issues, said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida ACLU.
Scott on Tuesday signed another drug-testing measure into law. It requires applicants to pass drug tests before they collect temporary cash assistance. In addition, the Republican-led Legislature passed a handful of controversial measures dealing with elections, doctor-patient conversations and abortion, all of which may be targeted for legal challenges.
This has to be stopped here, Simon told reporters Wednesday. There is a concerted attack on the personal freedoms of all Floridians.
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