Can an Employer go Through your Cell Phone?

Long story, but I may soon be asked by my employer to take a drug test and hand over my cell phone for "inspection"?. Nothing serious or illegal, I was just involved in an incident at work and policy states that you have to take a drug test and they will ask to see your cell phone to view any conversations with other employees about the incident. I can use synthetic for the piss test (worked last time..) but I cant imagine it isnt a violation of someones civil rights to go through their phone based off an incident. Like I said its not illegal so there will be no warrants involved, do you think they could fire me for not turning over my phone? Either way, I'm not.

Is it a company provided cell phone? If not, I would tell them to fuck off.... in a not so, direct way of speaking.

Depends on if you agreed to it beforehand i would think.

Havent agreed to shit I was informed by a manager (also friend of mine) after hours, on non company cell phones. I also talked to another associate who they know was on the phone with me. So I cant play dumb, but Ill tell them that he told me, and that the manager didnt. But what the manager was saying is that since I know they made a report of the incident, theyre gonna question me about it and probably ask for me phone to verify. I'm kinda with ubernewb

What i was getting at is if it is an official company policy that was in place at your time of hire, you likely consented to it in accepting the position.

Good call, i'm not sure about that. I have stacks of paperwork from my hiring, perhaps I should look through them. But either way, I would have to bomb my phone and remove alot of "incriminating" evidence if they took it.

Is the phone under your ssn? On your or your family's plan? If not, dont comply. Even if you have nothing to hide.

If they pay for your phone or the line is owned by them. They have a right to it, But you have a legal right to privacy so enjoy the grey area

Duku said:

Is the phone under your ssn? On your or your family's plan? If not, dont comply. Even if you have nothing to hide.

If they pay for your phone or the line is owned by them. They have a right to it, But you have a legal right to privacy so enjoy the grey area

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Good point imo. So you're saying thatif the phone isn't under aptFarmer's name/ssn he has no right to agree to it being searched correct?

i'd leave that shit at home from now on..

what are they gonna do? force you to take your phone to work?? they can't...

redivider said:

i'd leave that shit at home from now on..

what are they gonna do? force you to take your phone to work?? they can't...

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that's exactly what i'm saying, and how on earth would they even know that you own a cell phone to begin with?? you could simply tell them that you only own a landline and don't possess a cell phone whatsoever, unless of course they've seen you on your cell at work that is..

If you didnt sign a clause in your hiring, they cant do shit... HOWEVER, I had a similar incident at gamestop when I worked there, and I stuck to my guns because I was a manager and my best friend was a store manager, and they WILL find a way to get rid of you legally. They did that to me, and said I was on tapes, I was even getting a lawyer and couldnt do anything about it... BUT, my friend fought them and got 20,000... So if you want to fight them, be careful. If you dont want to risk your job like that, just buy a go phone from walmart.. $30. If they know your number, and you have an att phone, just put your att sim card in the go phone. If you contacts arent saved on the sim card, you will have no contacts, no pics, no nothing. Brand new phone

yeah, im pretty sure Id give em a big fuck off. fukn nazis.

Tell them to pound sand

Personal cell...No
Company cell...yes

company cell met with accident, hand them pieces.

redivider said:

i'd leave that shit at home from now on..

what are they gonna do? force you to take your phone to work?? they can't...

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lol ............... seems like an easy problem you fix and you fixed it with one sentence....+rep for you sir......lol

Hmm, I worked at a place that if you brought your phone in they would have to go through it...not too big a deal, then again it happened to me right after getting my new phone...I didn't even have any pictures, but I still had to wait a whole day to get my phone back...

Exercise your 4th Amendment Rights...never waive your rights! Ever!

missnu said:

Hmm, I worked at a place that if you brought your phone in they would have to go through it...not too big a deal, then again it happened to me right after getting my new phone...I didn't even have any pictures, but I still had to wait a whole day to get my phone back...

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fuck that id never let an employer go through my fone not even for one minuite , whats next ? an anal probe before work .

ThE sAtIvA hIgH said:

fuck that id never let an employer go through my fone not even for one minuite , whats next ? an anal probe before work .

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That is so true . These businesses are like nazis-what kind of crazy person would even think they could do that to someone . Where you working NASA ? The Central Intelligence Agency or what ? Thats nuts man . Sorry to hear about this but maybe go with the softer approach unless you don't want your job anymore . Thats just so crazy .