State Case Update
November 13, 2000 by Beeson Tayer & Bodine
Court Bars Caltrans’ Policy of Off-Duty Drug Testing
On September 29, 2000, the California Court of Appeal of the First Appellate District affirmed a lower court ruling in Edgerton v. State Personnel Board that Caltrans’ policy of requiring employees to submit to follow-up drug testing during off-duty hours violates their constitutional right to privacy and barred Caltrans from continuing the policy. The court dismissed Caltrans’ argument that its employees have no “constitutionally protected interest in lost personal time.” Instead the court noted that: “First, the random drug testing at issue here is in itself an intrusion on an individual’s privacy rights, and that intrusion is significantly enhanced when an employee is subject to follow-up drug testing on his off-duty time. Second, Caltrans’ employees have no reasonable expectation that they will be subject to drug testing on their personal time because Caltrans’ written policies provide that employees will be subject to testing when they are on duty. Finally, in order to justify off-duty testing, Caltrans was required to show that no less intrusive alternatives were available.” Given that Caltrans had failed to carry its burden while at the same time indicating that off-duty testing would continue, the appellate court upheld the lower court’s injunction barring continuation of the policy.
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