ABA Family Legal Guide

Law and the Workplace

On the Job

Special Rights of Public Employees

How does freedom from unreasonable search and seizure protect a public employee?

An employee may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in certain places at work, such as a desk or a filing cabinet that is not shared with other workers. In those areas where the employee has such a reasonable expectation of privacy, an employer may conduct a work-related noninvestigatory search, as well as an investigatory search for work-related misconduct, only if there are "reasonable grounds for suspecting the search will turn up evidence that the employee is guilty of work-related misconduct, or that the search is necessary for a noninvestigatory work-related purpose such as to retrieve a needed file."

Although the law on this point is unsettled, public employers would likely need probable cause to suspect workplace misconduct before they could search personal items such as a briefcase, luggage, or a purse that an employee brings into the workplace.

As for searches relating to drug testing, see the question on Drug Testing and the Constitution in the section of this chapter entitled "The Hiring Process."