Cunningham v. New York State Dept. of Labor, 20 N.Y.3d 513 (2013)
A public employer’s warrantless GPS tracking of an employee’s car is a search, subject to constitutional reasonableness, and must be reasonably limited in scope to work-related activities to be permissible.
Summary
The New York State Department of Labor suspected an employee, Cunningham, of falsifying time records and attached a GPS device to his car without a warrant to track his movements. The Court of Appeals held that while the GPS tracking constituted a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment and the New York Constitution, it fell within the workplace exception to the warrant requirement. However, the Court found the search unreasonable in its scope because it tracked Cunningham’s movements 24/7, including evenings, weekends, and vacation time, which was excessively intrusive. As a result, evidence obtained solely from the GPS tracking was suppressed, and the case was remanded for a redetermination of the appropriate penalty.
Facts
The New York State Department of Labor began investigating Cunningham, the Director of Staff and Organizational Development, for alleged unauthorized absences and falsified time records. After Cunningham evaded an investigator, the Department referred the matter to the Office of the State Inspector General. The Inspector General attached a GPS device to Cunningham’s car without his knowledge while it was parked near his office. The device tracked all of the car’s movements for a month, including evenings, weekends, and vacation time. The department then used the GPS data to support disciplinary charges against Cunningham, alleging discrepancies between his reported work hours and his car’s location.
Procedural History
The Department of Labor brought disciplinary charges against Cunningham. A Hearing Officer sustained 11 charges, four of which relied on GPS evidence. The Commissioner of Labor affirmed the Hearing Officer’s determination and terminated Cunningham’s employment. Cunningham filed a CPLR article 78 proceeding challenging the termination. The Appellate Division confirmed the Commissioner’s determination. Cunningham appealed to the Court of Appeals.
Issue(s)
Whether the warrantless GPS tracking of a public employee’s vehicle by their employer constitutes an unreasonable search in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Article I, § 12 of the New York Constitution when the tracking occurs 24/7, including during non-work hours and vacation time, even if a reasonable suspicion of misconduct exists.
Holding
No, because while the GPS tracking of an employee’s car falls under the workplace exception to the warrant requirement, the search was unreasonable in its scope due to its excessively intrusive nature of tracking Cunningham’s movements 24/7 for a month. The evidence obtained solely from the GPS data should be suppressed.
Court’s Reasoning
The Court acknowledged that attaching a GPS device to a vehicle and tracking its movements constitutes a search under both the Fourth Amendment and the New York Constitution, citing People v. Weaver and United States v. Jones. However, the Court found that the “workplace exception” to the warrant requirement, as established in O’Connor v. Ortega and Matter of Caruso v. Ward, applied in this case because the employer had a reasonable suspicion of employee misconduct. The Court reasoned that tracking the location of an employee’s car during working hours is analogous to other workplace searches deemed permissible without a warrant.
Despite the applicability of the workplace exception, the Court determined that the scope of the search was unreasonable. The GPS tracking was deemed “excessively intrusive” because it monitored Cunningham’s movements at all times, including evenings, weekends, and during his vacation. The court stated, “The search will be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the nature of the misconduct.” The Court emphasized that the State failed to make a reasonable effort to limit the tracking to business hours, despite having the ability to remove the device. The Court held that, “Where an employer conducts a GPS search without making a reasonable effort to avoid tracking an employee outside of business hours, the search as a whole must be considered unreasonable.”