Employer sued for using polygraph results
March 9, 2009 by Shane BorerPosted in: Discrimination, Fighting off fraud, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest news & views
An employee who was fired after taking a lie detector test can sue his former employer — even though the results of the exam weren’t the main reason for his termination.
In this recent case, a bank teller failed two polygraph tests administered by the local police and FBI after an attempted robbery of the branch. Managers at the bank learned the employee had failed the exams, although no further specifics were given by the police. Shortly after, the employee was let go.
Days later, he sued the bank, claiming his rights under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) were violated. A court agreed, noting although the bank couldn’t be sued for “passive acceptance” of the lie detector results — i.e., knowing the results of the exam — it could be prosecuted for improperly using those results.
Even if the test results weren’t the sole reason the employee was terminated, all he needed to do was show the bank “used” or “referred to” the polygraphs to sue under the EPPA.
Cite: Worden v. Sun Trust Banks, U.S. Crt. of Appeals, No. 07-1354.
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Tags: Branch, Lie detector, Polygraph, Robbery
March 13th, 2009 at 9:43 am
This makes sense. A bank teller failes 2 polygraph exams after an attempted bank robbery and the bank is not allowed to fire the person? But the law does have exceptions which I believe cover this bank. I think all three of these excemptions would apply in this case.
(1) the test is administered in connection with an ongoing investigation involving economic loss or injury to the employer’s business, such as theft, embezzlement, misappropriation, or an act of unlawful industrial espionage or sabotage;
(2) the employee had access to the property that is the subject of the investigation;
(3) the employer has a reasonable suspicion that the employee was involved in the incident or activity under investigation;