Section 5 Public Employers

• Library: Employer-Employee Law 2008

“The Fourth Amendment guards against unreasonable searches and seizures of persons by officers of the Government or those acting at their direction.” Ford v. Dowd, 931 F.2d 1286, 1289
(8^th Cir. 1991).

For public employees, a urinalysis drug test “is a search subject to the Fourth Amendment, and, therefore, must be reasonable.” Reeves v. Singleton, 994 S.W.2d 586, 591 (Mo. App. W.D. 1999). See also Warren v. Bd. of Educ. of City of St. Louis, 200 F. Supp. 2d 1053, 1062 (E.D. Mo. 2001). Courts balance the employee’s right to privacy with the government employer’s need to conduct drug testing. Ford, 931 F.2d at 1289.

As noted by the United States Supreme Court:

our cases establish that where a Fourth Amendment...