In O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. 709 (1987), a physician filed a complaint under 42 U.S.C. 1983 against officials at the state hospital where he worked, alleging that their search of his office violated his rights under the Fourth Amendment. The Court "rejected the contention . . . that public employees can never have a reasonable expectation in their place of work," holding that the "operational realities of the workplace, however, may make some employee's expectations of privacy unreasonable when an intrusion is by a supervisor rather than a law enforcement official." O'Connor, 480 U.S. at 717. Furthermore, "public employees' expectations of privacy in their offices, desks, and file cabinets, like similar expectations of employees in the private sector, may be reduced by virtue of actual office practices and procedures, or by legitimate regulation." Id. The physician did not share his desk or file cabinets with any other employees, had occupied the separate office for seventeen years and kept personal materials in his office, including personal correspondence, medical files, correspondence from patients unconnected to the hospital, personal financial records, teaching materials, and personal gifts. Id. at 718. The Court also noted that there was no evidence that the hospital had any regulations or policies discouraging doctors from storing personal papers and effects in their desks or file cabinets, though "the absence of such a policy does not create an expectation of privacy where it would not otherwise exist." Id. at 719. Accordingly, the Court held that there was undisputed evidence that the doctor had a reasonable expectation of privacy in his desk and file cabinets. Id. at 718. Nevertheless, because the search at issue was conducted by a public employer rather than law enforcement, the Court applied a special needs reasonableness analysis, balancing the invasion of the employee's "legitimate expectations of privacy against the government's need for supervision, control, and the efficient operation of the workplace." Id. at 719-20.