Employee Property on Job Site / Company Vehicle

83011 · June 2006

Question. Can a supervisor search an employee's personal cooler for beer or other alcoholic beverages after receiving reports that employee drinks on the job? the cooler is in the bed of a company pick-up truck but is the employee's personal cooler and obviously closes securely. should the supervisor ask permission to open the cooler / ask the employee to open the cooler / demand the employee open the cooler / etc?

Thanks.

Parabeagle · June 2006

Check your policy and your state statutes first. Our policy reserves the right to search company-owned and personal belongings (on company property) if we have reason to believe a theft has occurred, etc.

The cooler is a touchy issue if he has locked it using a lock he purchased himself. That raises an expectation of privacy that could be problematic for you. Same with lockers. If you are going to provide lockers, provide the lock as well. That way you can ensure your ability to search with no problems.

Personally, if I had received reports that an employee was drinking on the job I would document the bahviors they observed and confront the employee before exercising the option to search.

Again, be careful. Check your statutes to make sure there are no state laws prohibiting such searches and make sure your policy (which I'm sure you have communicated to all of your employees, right?) permits such searches.

Al Vreeland · June 2006

There are no state statutes in Alabama which limit your ability to search the cooler. The question, therefore, will be whether the employee has a reasonable expectation of privacy in the cooler.

If you have a published policy which provides for a search of personal property, then he clearly has no expectation of privacy.

If not, then you have to look at the surrounding circumstances. The fact that he put the cooler in a company vehicle weighs in favor of your right to search. If he has a lock on it, that would weigh in favor of his expectation of privacy. If anyone who passes by could open it, then it's less likely he would have an expectation of privacy. There's no clear answer in this situation (without a policy) so you have to judge what a reasonable person would think.
Al Vreeland
Editor, Alabama Employment Law Letter
Lehr Middlebrooks Price & Vreeland, P.C.

HCCADC · June 2006

Can you do an alcohol test on the employee from reasonable suspicion? What does your policy state? I think that would be an easier route to take if you have a policy that states you have the right to do alchol testing.

Employee Property on Job Site / Company Vehicle

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