MIAMI (CBSMiami.com) – Faced with a pending lawsuit, Governor Rick Scott has ordered all agency heads, except the Department of Corrections, to delay implementing a policy of drug testing state workers.
Scott had originally signed an executive order that required all prospective hires to submit to a drug test during the application process. In addition, the order said all currently employees would be tested at random.
The tests were reported to cost $35 apiece and could have cost the state around $3.5 million per year once implemented.
The ACLU challenged the governor’s order in court saying it violated a 2004 decision that found drug testing workers in the Department of Juvenile Justice was unconstitutional.
The U.S. Supreme Court has previously ruled that blanket suspicion-less drug testing can be allowed only if “the risk to the public safety is substantial and real.”
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