Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Controversies - Employee Background Check Lawsuit

Employee Background Check Lawsuit

On February 25, 2005, the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12 was approved by the Secretary of Commerce. This was followed by the Federal Information Processing Standards 201 (FIPS 201), which specified how the federal government should implement personal identity verification. New specifications led to a need for rebadging to meet the updated requirements.

On August 30, 2007, a group of JPL employees filed suit in federal court against NASA, Caltech, and the Department of Commerce, claiming their Constitutional rights were being violated by new, overly invasive background investigations. 97% of JPL employees were classified at the low-risk level and would be subjected to the same clearance procedures as those obtaining moderate/high risk clearance. Under HSPD12 and FIPS 201, investigators have the right to obtain any information on employees, which includes questioning acquaintances on the status of the employee's mental, emotional, and financial stability. Additionally, if employees depart JPL before the end of the two year validity of the background check, no investigation ability gets terminated; former employees can still be legally monitored.

Employees were told that if they did not sign an unlimited waiver of privacy, they would be deemed to have "voluntarily resigned". The rebadging rules were designed to make JPL compliant with FIPS 201. The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit found the process violated the employees' privacy rights and has issued a preliminary injunction. NASA appealed and the US Supreme Court granted certiorari on March 8, 2010. On January 19, 2011, the Supreme Court overturned the Ninth Circuit decision, ruling that the background checks did not violate any constitutional privacy right that the employees may have had.