RANDOM DRUG TESTS BY MESA ARE ILLEGAL

Mesa's random drug-testing policy for firefighters is unconstitutional
because it violates their rights to privacy, according to an Arizona
Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that could affect public-sector
workplaces statewide.

The five-member court ruled unanimously in a case brought by Mesa fire
Capt. Craig W. Petersen, a 27-year firefighter and father of nine who
said he just didn't think random testing was fair to workers.

Officials from United Phoenix Firefighters Local 493, which represents
about 2,100 firefighters Valley-wide, say they helped design the
random drug-test policy in place in five other Valley cities including
Phoenix for good public relations but knew all along that it was illegal.

"We figured it was the right thing to do from a standpoint of public
trust," said Executive Vice President Pete Gorraiz, "and making sure
our members had the benefit of taking advantage of a program if they
had a problem with substance abuse."

The issue will likely come before the union's executive board soon, he
said. The ruling does not apply to pre-employment drug testing.

"That'll be interesting to see what happens in other cities," Gorraiz
said. "There may be unions that say, 'Look, you can't force us. Here's
the ruling.'"

The case could have repercussions in the public sector.

"I'm sure someone will come along and apply it to other government
employees - secretaries, office workers, mechanics and so on," said
David Abney, a Mesa attorney who represented Petersen without charge
during most of his two-year quest to get the law tossed out. "The next
step would be, does it apply to police officers? I don't know."

Petersen, 49, said he was "excited" by news of the victory, which
reached him during a city training session for a new performance
review policy.

"I feel like the fire department was attempting to violate and intrude
upon my rights and that I can't allow that to be," he said.

The decision surprised and disappointed City Attorney Debbie Spinner,
who argued in her first appearance before the state high court in November.

"We implemented this policy as a proactive approach to ensuring the
safety of firefighters and the public," she said.

Petersen first sued in Maricopa County Superior Court in 2001, where
he represented himself. Mesa firefighters first learned of the policy
through a training video provided by incoming Mesa Fire Chief Dennis
Compton, a former Phoenix fire chief, and union officials.

Compton eventually retired from Mesa, but the suit effectively halted
random drug testing on the eve of the policy's introduction. Petersen
won in Maricopa County Superior Court, but lost on appeal.

With Abney's help, Petersen took the case before the Arizona Supreme
Court.

The court held that random drug testing was "unreasonable." It
enjoined the city from making firefighters submit to the test for
safety's sake, despite no evidence of drug use among Mesa
firefighters.

For the court, Vice Chief Justice Ruth V. McGregor wrote that the
city's "special needs" supporting the program "are insufficient to
overcome the privacy intrusion."

"At most, the program's random testing component furthers only a
generalized, unsubstantiated interest in deterring and detecting a
hypothetical drug abuse problem among the city's firefighters," she
wrote.