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Judge rules that job applicant doesn’t have to undergo urinalysis

Nelson Daranciang

A federal judge says a woman who moved to Kailua-Kona from Oregon to accept a job with the Hawaii County prosecutor does not have to provide a sample of her urine before she can start work.

U.S. District Judge Derrick K. Watson issued a temporary restraining order Friday, preventing the county from requiring Rebekah Taylor-Failor to submit to urinalysis before she can begin work as a legal clerk. Watson said the county has failed to show a need to conduct a suspicionless search of an applicant for a position that the county acknowledges is not related to safety.

Taylor-Failor filed a lawsuit against the county last week, claiming that the county’s pre-employment medical requirements violate her constitutional rights against illegal search and seizure. She filed her lawsuit as a class action on behalf of all previous and future Hawaii County job applicants.

Watson’s order applies only to Taylor-Failor.

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