Employers May Check For Drugs
By Amy E. Feldman
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It was revealed that anyone who applies to work for Britney Spears' Las Vegas show has to agree to random drug tests and pat downs. Is that even legal?
Don't the police need reasonable suspicion if they want to pat you down for drugs or contraband? Yes, and yes. It's legal.
While the police do need reasonable suspicion or probable cause or a search warrant depending on the circumstances, Britney's handlers aren't the police. Just like your employer, they have a right to test for the presence of drugs on a worker.
Check your personnel handbook. Your employer probably already told you (which you'd know if you'd read the manual) that it has a no drug policy and that it reserves the right to test you, which it can do under the law.
Whether it can pat you down will depend on how handsy they get when they do it but assuming it's professionally done, a
security check is legal. Most employers don't state that they want to make sure that you don't carry drugs so that the boss doesn't get her hands on them, but regardless of the reason, they have a right to get a piece of you.
(Which I know you're cool enough to know is a pun on the name of Britney's show.)
