Court rules GPS didn't violate worker's rights

A state employee's constitutional rights weren't violated when an agency placed a hidden GPS tracker on his private car to determine whether he was skipping out on work, a midlevel court ruled Wednesday.

The Appellate Division, in a 3-2 ruling, said the agency had "reasonable suspicion" that the employee, Michael Cunningham, was falsifying his time cards.

Cunningham worked as the state Labor Department's director of staff and organizational development in its Albany-area offices for nearly 20 years, according to court documents. He had been disciplined previously for time abuse.

The Labor Department in 2008 suspected Cunningham was "engaging in a pattern of unauthorized absences" and tried to tail him, but "had been thwarted," the court noted. The agency referred the matter to the state inspector general, which placed the global positioning system on Cunningham's car.

Eventually, the Labor Department filed 13 misconduct charges against Cunningham, including falsifying time records and travel vouchers. A hearing officer upheld 11 of them and recommended termination. Evidence obtained from the GPS tracker applied to just four of the charges -- Cunningham had sought to suppress the GPS-based evidence, saying its use required a warrant. Cunningham is appealing his termination.

Three Appellate Division judges said the key legal question was whether the agency "had reasonable grounds at the inception of the use of the GPS to support individual misconduct by" Cunningham. The two dissenting judges said the GPS was warranted at first but its use -- which went on for more than a month -- was too broad and intrusive.