M.D.Pa.: Elementary school teacher could be subjected to Breathalyzer because of a reduced REP at work

An elementary school teacher who showed up at work with the smell of alcohol about her person was reasonable suspicion not probable cause. Under the reasonableness special needs standard, a Breathalyzer test was reasonable because elementary school teachers have a reduced expectation of privacy at work. Donegan v. Livingston, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91884 (M.D. Pa. July 3, 2012):

Administration of a Breathalyzer test to an elementary school employee passes this reasonableness test. The Supreme Court has specifically recognized the school environment as one which “presents ‘special needs’ beyond normal law enforcement that may justify departures from the usual warrant and probable-cause requirements.” Skinner, 489 U.S. at 620 (quoting Griffin v. Wisconsin, 483 U.S. 868, 873-74 (1987)). Moreover, an analysis of the above factors demonstrates that an elementary school employee in Donegan’s position could be properly subjected to a Breathalyzer test.

Like the corrections officer in Majewski, Donegan’s profession subjected her to a reduced expectation of privacy in her sobriety while at work. Similar to railroad workers, teachers’ privacy to ingest substances at work is “diminished by reasons of their participation in an industry that is regulated pervasively to ensure safety, a goal dependent, in substantial part, on the health and fitness of covered employees.” Skinner, 489 U.S. at 627; see also Knox County Educ. Ass’n v. Knox County Bd. of Educ., 158 F.3d 361, 384 (6th Cir. 1998) (noting that teachers play a unique role in their influence and access to children and “should not be surprised if their own use of drugs is subject to regulation and testing and, as such, their expectation of privacy, at least with respect to drugs and drug usage, might be diminished.”); but see Am. Fed’n of Teachers-W. Virginia, AFL-CIO v. Kanawha County Bd. of Educ., 592 F. Supp. 2d 883, 904 (S.D.W. Va. 2009) (declining to find teacher positions as safety sensitive on the record before that court). As teachers inhabit a highly regulated environment which is particularly sensitive to alcohol and drug abuse, I find that teachers have a reduced expectation of privacy in the use of such substances while at work.