According to this article on MinnPost, a Florida judge struck down a law put into place by the governor which would have permitted drug tests to be performed on public employees without suspicion. While the governor argues that public employees, because information is made public about them, including their salaries, they should not have any reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to their drug use–something which the judge disagreed with.

From the article:

“The Governor’s reasoning is hardly transparent and frankly obscure,” Judge Ungaro wrote in her Thursday ruling. “He offers no plausible rationale explaining why the fact that a state employee’s work product and financial status are publicly accessible leads to the conclusion that the employee’s expectation of privacy in his or her bodily functions and fluids is then diminished.”

While I have had jobs in both the public and private sectors, the only place where there was no fear of retribution for anything was within the public. No, drug use should not be condoned by the taxpayers and all government workers should definitely be drug tested at the start of employment as well as randomly (suspicionless) throughout their time with the state. While the private sector is free to operate as they see fit, the members employed by the taxpayers should be held to a higher standard and be required to prove their work is not impacted by their off (or on) hours drug use. The governor’s comment which made the absolute most sense was when he noted that if the government workers didn’t like the rule they should find work elsewhere. Exactly.

What about you? Do you think public sector employees should be drug tested regularly and randomly? Are you surprised to learn that public employees are NOT drug tested at the beginning of their employment (at least in MN)? Do you think that public employees should be held to a higher standard than the private sector? Whatever you have to say about this one vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.

Last week’s poll asked home improvement and whether you did it yourself or hired someone to do it for you. Most people offered some great suggestions, including privately contacting me with the names of contractors they have used, and noted that mostly they use contractors to do the work. We’ve had several out to the house now and have a written estimate from one ($2800+) and we’re waiting on two more this week. We hope to have a decision made shortly and work to hopefully begin soon. Yay for new bedrooms.

This week’s poll comes after reading the Savage Pacer‘s most recent police calls where a woman who had recently taken a new job found that a theft conviction in Hennepin County was on her record after a background check was done during a preemployment screening. While the Savage PD could do nothing for her, it was very good that the State of Minnesota allows those having a background check being done to receive a copy of what was found.

This week’s poll question is whether you’ve ever been the victim of identity theft and how did you find out about it? How could someone be convicted of theft when they supposedly didn’t do anything? Do you believe the system is that broken that someone could get away with pinning a crime on someone else? Have you ever been surprised by what was found during a background check (one that was recently completed on me let me know that when I drove with an expired license [by accident] and was pulled over it was a misdemeanor and not simply a ticketed offense even though I never had to go to court, etc).

Whatever you have to say about this one vote on the sidebar and then comment on below. After you do both of those things feel free to check out our expired polls in the archive or read through the previous posts about polls here.