On Wednesday, a federal appeals panel rejected Governor Rick Scott’s desire to randomly drug test nearly 85,000 state employees, saying the program is too wide-ranging, although they agreed that many could be tested, based on a job-by-job basis.
The federal appeals court, like the lower court found Scott’s far-reaching drug testing program, unconstitutional. The Court also said, it is up to the administration to determine the jobs that would allow drug testing under the Constitution.
Writing for the three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus stated that “the state offers several reasons that, it claims, can justify suspicionless drug testing of all 85,000 government employees, regardless of the nature of their specific job functions. Based on these generic reasons, the state asks us to approve a testing policy of unprecedented scope. We are unpersuaded.”
Following the ruling yesterday, Scott claimed partial victory, saying:
“Many Floridians are required to take drug tests in their workplace and it is only right for state workers paid with taxpayer funds to be required to do the same,” he said. “The Court did the right thing today by reversing the injunction on our executive order for drug testing state employees. We will go forward in arguing this case in both the appellate and trial courts in order to ensure that taxpayer funds are safeguarded from misuse by ensuring our state workforce is drug-free.”
The state workers union also praised the Court’s decision.
“Governor Scott’s relentless quest for urine testing has once again been rejected by a federal court,” Alma Gonzalez, a lawyer for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees said in a statement, tampbay.com reported. “People don’t have to give up their privacy, dignity and constitutional protections in order to serve our communities. Public employees should not be subject to arbitrary testing without probable cause or consent.”
Scott also wants welfare recipients to be drug tested, a move that has also been halted by the courts.
Read more here on federal appeals court rejection of drug testing of state employees.
