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Bluelight Crew
TALLAHASSEE -- Requiring job applicants to "pee in a cup" to test for drugs and randomly selecting current public employees to do the same is unconstitutional, attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union said Wednesday after filing a federal lawsuit to stop the practice ordered by Gov. Rick Scott.
In what is expected to be a series of lawsuits on recently passed legislation and gubernatorial edicts, the ACLU called on a federal judge in Miami to immediately suspend an executive order signed by Scott in March that requires all agencies to set up random drug testing protocols for existing workers and require new hires to submit to drug tests as a condition of their employment.
In doing so, Scott has not only pushed the envelope over who can be tested, but has acted counter to multiple court rulings that require some probable cause or special circumstance before drug tests can be administered, Peter Walsh, an attorney representing the ACLU, told reporters Wednesday.
"This is a case in which the office of the governor has ripped the envelope apart," said Walsh.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Scott responded that Floridians overwhelmingly support drug testing for state workers. She said the governor, who has required testing for new hires since he took office, is confident the executive order will withstand court scrutiny.
"There’s an odd hypocrisy here," said spokeswoman Amy Graham. "The ACLU supports all kinds of mandatory disclosures by public employees, but not the most important disclosure - whether or not they’re fit to be in the workforce."
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/01/2246466/aclu-fights-drug-testing-of-state.html#ixzz1O7p8TOWi
In what is expected to be a series of lawsuits on recently passed legislation and gubernatorial edicts, the ACLU called on a federal judge in Miami to immediately suspend an executive order signed by Scott in March that requires all agencies to set up random drug testing protocols for existing workers and require new hires to submit to drug tests as a condition of their employment.
In doing so, Scott has not only pushed the envelope over who can be tested, but has acted counter to multiple court rulings that require some probable cause or special circumstance before drug tests can be administered, Peter Walsh, an attorney representing the ACLU, told reporters Wednesday.
"This is a case in which the office of the governor has ripped the envelope apart," said Walsh.
A spokeswoman for Gov. Rick Scott responded that Floridians overwhelmingly support drug testing for state workers. She said the governor, who has required testing for new hires since he took office, is confident the executive order will withstand court scrutiny.
"There’s an odd hypocrisy here," said spokeswoman Amy Graham. "The ACLU supports all kinds of mandatory disclosures by public employees, but not the most important disclosure - whether or not they’re fit to be in the workforce."
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/01/2246466/aclu-fights-drug-testing-of-state.html#ixzz1O7p8TOWi
