As Kalrog said, that wasn't forced, it was something you voluntarily agreed to as a condition of employment.jimlongley wrote:Try working for the gov't - when I was at TSA, we were REQUIRED to sign to allow search of body and soul, as well as provide a copy of the combination or key to our private cubby holes.Kalrog wrote:You can't sign away those rights. You can agree to it as a condition of employment, but if you later refuse the worst that can happen is they fire you. They cannot legally compel you to submit to a search without a proper legal document (search warrant).captkilowatt wrote:... just about every employer requires new employes to sigh away their ability to refuse a warrantless search and to legally carry a firearm.
If you'd said no, they could have refused to hire you. If you'd refused after being hired, they could have fired you. But in either case, they couldn't have searched you or your private belongings without either your consent, or a warrant.
Just like the job you worked: as a TSA screener, you didn't search anyone without their consent (no matter how grudging or coerced). They always had the option to refuse, and leave.
I also have to point out that TSA are not LEOs, for the very reason I mentioned earlier: LEOs are bound by the 4th Amendment and all current court rulings about the scope of searches. Boarding a plane, coming to work, etc., is neither Probable Cause nor Reasonable Articulable Suspicion so that a LEO would be legally allowed to search.
If you ever attend an event where you must pass through security to enter, you might notice that the security screening is done by private security, but there are LEOs standing by watching. The private guard can turn to the LEO and tell him, "Look, I found a gun!", which then gives the LEO PC/RAS to arrest and/or search further.