The constitutional privacy rights of public employees

Abstract

Despite the significant expansion of the constitutional rights of public employees during the last three decades, the Supreme Court has proven extremely reluctant to restrict public-sector employment practices on the grounds that they violate the constitutional privacy rights of public employees. This treatment of the privacy rights of public employees is likely to continue because of the Court's formulation of a public-service vision of the public-employment relationship. The adoption of the public-service vision has provided the Court the basis for continuing the policy of declining to strictly scrutinize employment practices that arguably limit the privacy of public employees both on and off the job.