Joel M. Flaum
A federal employee must face a lawsuit accusing him of violating the Fourth Amendment by secretly installing a surveillance camera in a room his female colleagues used to change clothes, a federal appeals court has held.
The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the argument that federal law requires the allegations brought against William Adkins by a former co-worker at the Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center to be resolved in administrative proceedings.
Citing Schweiker v. Chilicky, 487 U.S. 412 (1988), a three-judge panel of the court conceded federal employees may not sue for violations of their constitutional rights if Congress “has provided what it considers adequate remedial mechanisms” for those violations.
The panel also conceded two statutes — the Civil Service Reform Act and the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act — provide remedies outside of court for aggrieved government employees.
Neither law, however, applies to the constitutional claim Renee D. Gustafson brought against Adkins, the panel held.
The panel also rejected the argument that Adkins is shielded from liability by qualified immunity.
At the time Adkins installed the camera, the panel held, it was clearly established that employees have the right to be free from unreasonable searches by their employers.
The court affirmed rulings by U.S. District Judge John Z. Lee that cleared the way for Gustafson to pursue her suit.
Gustafson is represented by Anthony J. Masciopinto of Kulwin, Masciopinto & Kulwin LLP and Rachel A. Katz of the Law Office of Jeffrey B. Steinbeck.
Masciopinto said he’s pleased with the ruling.
“We’re looking forward to going back to the district court and having an adjudication of the case,” he said.
Adkins is represented by Matthew D. Tanner of Roeser, Bucheit & Graham LLC. He could not be reached for comment.
Gustafson served as a lieutenant in the medical center’s Police and Security Service from September 2007 through April 2009.
Adkins was a detective with the service and Myron K. Thomas was its chief.
In May 2007, Thomas directed Adkins to install a hidden surveillance camera in the ceiling of an office used by supervisors.
Thomas said he wanted to determine if supervisors were sleeping on the job.
Both Thomas and Adkins deny they knew that female officers, who did not have a locker room, used the office to change clothes.
Adkins acknowledges he contacted the assistant police chief and the VA’s Office of the Inspector General for advice about the order to install the camera.
But both men deny Adkins told Thomas he had been advised installing the camera would be illegal.
Thomas also denies the camera caught images of Gustafson and other female officers dressing and undressing.
Gustafson sued Adkins and Thomas after the camera was discovered during renovations in September 2009.
The United States was dismissed as a defendant after the government accepted a claim Gustafson filed under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act.
But Lee declined to throw out the claims against Adkins and Thomas.
Adkins appealed. Thomas did not appeal, leaving the suit pending against him.
In its opinion, the panel rejected the argument that Gustafson’s Fourth Amendment claim is precluded by the remedial practices set out in the compensation act and the civil service act.
The civil service statute covers only claims stemming from adverse personnel actions taken against employees, Judge Joel M. Flaum wrote for the panel.
Installing a hidden camera does not constitute a personnel action, he wrote, which is defined by the statute as a disciplinary or corrective measure.
The compensation statute, Flaum continued, provides the exclusive remedy for a work-related injury suffered by a government employee.
The statute defines a work-related injury as an “injury by accident” or a “disease proximately caused by the employment,” he wrote.
The illegal installation of a surveillance camera, he wrote, “is not easily characterized” as a work-related injury under that definition.
Joining Friday’s opinion were Judges Daniel A. Manion and Diane S. Sykes. Renee D. Gustafson v. William Adkins, No. 15-1055.