The US Supreme Court has ruled that the very nature of a public employee's position allows some intrusion into privacy that would not otherwise be tolerated by the Fourth Amendment, and identified certain factors that may reduce a public employee's expectation of privacy in an office, desk or file cabinet. Legitimate work-related reasons for employers to search employee work spaces include: to obtain documents available only in an employee's office while he or she is away from the office; to safeguard or identify state property or records in connection with a pending investigation into suspected employee misfeasance; and to conduct a routine inventory to secure government property. The article discusses private property in the work space, administrative vs criminal searches, electronic communications, and departmental decisions and privacy expectations. Notes