III. Union Waivers of Public Employees' Fourth Amendment Rights

• Library: Municipal Law Deskbook (ABA) (2015 Ed.)

III. UNION WAIVERS OF PUBLIC EMPLOYEES' FOURTH AMENDMENT RIGHTS

Although public-sector employees enjoy constitutional protection under the Fourth Amendment, there are circumstances in which a third party—a union, for example—may validly waive the public employee's constitutional protection.⁶⁰ For instance, the Third Circuit has recognized that "there are a variety of circumstances in which a third party may validly consent to a search or seizure," ⁶¹ one of these circumstances being a union's valid "consent to terms and conditions of employment, such as submission to drug testing, that implicate employees' Fourth Amendment Rights." ⁶²

A federal district court also held that city employees were bound by their union's consent to comply with a random drug testing policy...