Constangy: Key West, Florida, as Public Employer, Can’t Drug Test as if it Were in the Private Sector | Practical Law
https://content.next.westlaw.com/practical-law/document/I41fb0dfa1f3411e498db8b09b4f043e0/Constangy-Key-West-Florida-as-Public-Employer-Can-t-Drug-Test-as-if-it-Were-in-the-Private-Sector?viewType=FullText&transitionType=Default&contextData=(sc.Default)
This Law Firm Publication by Constangy, Brooks & Smith, LLP discusses a recent decision from a Florida federal court. In this case, an applicant for a position with the City of Key West, who was required to take a pre-employment drug test, sued the City, arguing that the drug test requirement violated her Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. The City argued that the need for a drug-free workplace was a "special need," that the drug test was a reasonable search because it applied only to applicants, and that the job was safety-sensitive. The court rejected these arguments, finding that there was no evidence showing that drug abuse was an issue, the job was not safety-sensitive because it did not require exposure to dangerous machinery and was mostly a desk job. The court also rejected the City’s argument that applicants could "reasonably" be tested even if employees could not.