D.Mass.: Transit worker in safety sensitive position could be drug tested for an “incident” short of an “accident”

The Boston MTA did not violate the Fourth Amendment by requiring a drug test of an employee involved in an “incident” short of an “accident.” The employee was in a safety sensitive position. Cabral v. Mass. Bay Transp. Auth., Boston Carmen’s Union Local 589, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 135579 (D. Mass. June 18, 2019).

Probable cause here was based on the overwhelming smell of unburnt marijuana, the fact defendant didn’t have an MMJ cultivator’s license, and prior convictions for growing and distributing marijuana. Commonwealth v. Long, 2019 Mass. LEXIS 499 (Aug. 12, 2019).