Harassment, discrimination, and retaliation in the workplace can occur in many different ways. Some forms of harassment may be disguised as seemingly permissible actions, which are either unethical or illegal under further examination. An angry employer, for example, may attempt to force an employee to submit to polygraph or lie detector tests in an effort to discredit his or her claim of harassment or discrimination at work.
The Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) of 1988 is a federal statute which shields employees from frivolous, retaliatory, or overzealous abuse of lie detector and polygraph technology.
Admissibility and Controversy
In addition to providing a bulwark against the misuse of this technology, the EPPA is also a legislative recognition of the fact that the use of such tests is highly controversial in the justice system, and that no scientific consensus exists about the reliability of polygraph results.
Some advocates, for example, claim that polygraphs have up to 95% accuracy, while critics put estimates as low as 65%. The credibility of results has also been called into question by several high profile cases in which lie detectors failed to serve their purpose.
Because of ongoing controversy, the admissibility of lie detector tests in court varies from jurisdiction from jurisdiction and is often left up to the discretion of the presiding judge. Though decisions to allow these tests has been strongly criticized by academics and appellate courts alike, the US Supreme Court has yet to issue a definitive ruling on the topic.
Provision of the EPPA
Under the EPPA, most private employers are barred from forcing employees or prospective employees to submit to lie detector and/or polygraph tests, with certain exceptions, which include:
- Investigation of incidents such as theft, where the employee is under reasonable suspicion and had access to the property in question;
- Interviewing of prospective employees for security firms engaged in protecting health and safety operations, national currency, and/or national security;
- Interviewing of prospective employees for pharmaceutical and similar companies who have direct access to controlled substances.
If these exceptions do not apply, employers are also forbidden by law from asking about the results of a lie detector test taken by the employee or applicant, using the results of a lie detector test as the basis for hiring, firing, or changing the employment status of an employee, or retaliate against an employee for claiming protection under the EPPA.
For more information on employee rights under the EPPA, visit the website of Los Angeles employment lawyer Perry Smith at http://www.losangeles-employmentlawyer.com.
Joseph Devine
Tags: Los Angeles employment lawyer, Los Angeles job discrimination lawyer, Los Angeles whistleblower lawyer
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