ACLU Lawsuit Over Drug Testing

ACLU threatens lawsuits over drug tests


by George Lauby (North Platte Bulletin) - 7/20/2009



The North Platte Housing Authority must stop testing employees for drugs, the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday.

The ACLU said the drug and alcohol-testing policy is unenforceable and illegal, in a letter to the board of commissioners of the housing authority.  Board chairman Ed Rieker would not comment about the ACLU allegations “until we’ve had a chance to discuss it with legal counsel.”


The board is searching for an attorney and hopes to have one by August, Rieker said. North Platte city attorney Doug Stack once advised the board of commissioners, but does so no longer, after critics noted that his duties as city attorney could conflict with the interests of the housing authority.

The housing authority implemented a drug testing policy this spring after two years on the drawing board. Hair samples of all employees were tested, providing a 90-day look-back window of drug use. The tests were negative, board members have said.   Under the policy, random urine samples are also taken.

Board members have maintained the testing program was prompted by complaints from North Platte residents that some housing authority employees apparently were using illegal drugs.  In setting up the tests, the board followed U.S. Department of Transportation protocol, Rieker told the Bulletin in May.



Potential employees are now tested before they are hired. In the ACLU letter, attorney Amy Miller said “pre-employment drug testing and random drug testing of employees must cease immediately.”  Miller said such tests can only be given if the job is “safety sensitive” – a standard applied to transportation workers and medical professionals, among other workers.

Drug tests are invasive, Miller also said. Providing a urine sample in the presence of a stranger is “the most extreme example of invasion of privacy." And, she said a drug test reveals whether the employee is pregnant, diabetic, taking legal medications and “many other private details.”

Miller said the ACLU would sue individual members of the housing authority board if the drug testing procedure does not cease.