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CA3: Drug testing of a mere "weed-wacker" in a highly regulated industry was still valid

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Even though plaintiff was a landscaper, he worked for a highly regulated sewage treatment facility, and the state could require drug testing. Mollo v. Passaic Valley Sewerage Comm'rs, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 1101 (3d Cir. January 20, 2011) (unpublished): Here, PVSC demonstrated that Mollo was aware of the safety concerns inherent in work at its treatment plant and, as an entity, PVSC clearly satisfies PBA Local 304's alternative criterion of a "long tradition of close government supervision." 151 N.J. at 545 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Taking these facts together, Mollo had a diminished expectation of privacy. His duties, though those of a self-described "weed-whacker," were safety-sensitive: they either required, or could have required, that he engage in tasks—such as the operation of machinery in dangerous places and the use of tools meant to detect whether he and other workers safely could enter certain, possibly dangerous, airspaces—the discharge of which were fraught with risks of serious injury...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on January 23, 2011 (boomark / email).