Employee Polygraph Protection Act - Help!

Katjha

Hello to the group! I am the HR Manager of a sizeable, family owned funeral home in Indiana. The company recently purchased a very nice TV / DVD / VCR combo unit for each of our seven locations, and one of those units disappeared. The company went to the video survaillence tapes of the parking lot only to discover that the camera that covers the loading / unloading bay of the funeral home was out of commission (and we own the system, so there is no security company to fall back on). To date, no one has come forward with any information, much less the TV unit. The owner of the company has offered a 'no questions asked' $500 reward; still no word. The owner of the company is a very aggressive businessman and has decided that if nothing happens within a week, he is going to polygraph each and every employee in order to 'get to the bottom of this'. I've done my homework - and passed it on to him - but he is determined to do *something*. The spin is that he feels he can polygraph because the wording of the Act indicates that a person suspected of theft, etc., can be polygraphed - so he will take the stance that *everyone* is suspected.

Can anyone offer some advice or assistance? I have never had anything like this come up in all of my years of HR and other than reading the poster we have up and the research I have done on the DOL.gov website, am pretty much at a loss.

Help...

Katrina Hutchins

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible..." ~ Walt Disney

Don D

Katrina: There used to be lawyers who were connected to the Forum who would pop in and take a stab at legal questions like yours but they have been AWOL for quite awhile. My take on this is that the owner who thinks he can do this is on thin ice. He should consult with his business attorney before proceding. The bigger question for me would be 'What can he do with the results'? Probably no reputable practicioner will conduct the test for him without some legal paperwork, including legal releases and such. But, if one does and your guy has a stack of paperwork in his hand pointing at somebody, then what? Does your owner get sued for falsely accusing or firing somebody based on such an illegally administered test? I've read that law enforcement and govt agencies can have the tests administered under certain circumstances and some others, only voluntarily. The posters we have up mention a $10,000 fine. I'll bet his VCR/TV/CD player was less than that. I would certainly, personally, not be a part of it and would tell him more than once that he should talk to the company attorney. If he's in the funeral business, he already knows more about lawsuits than he ever thought he'd want to know; but, he needs to check this one out or he'll wind up in the newspaper big time. Just my thoughts.

Down_the_Middle

Your boss is probably correct in the belief that s/he can require the polygraph as part of the investigation concerning the theft. Unless your state has a specific prohibition (not likely since the Employee Polygraph law is federal), you can probably proceed. Be mindful tho, of the requirements for the test-------must have reasonable suspicion, must give the testee a pre-test statement with numerous disclosures, etc..... Your boss is likely challenging the employees to "rat" on the culprit or the person may suddenly quit or need to relocate......... The boss can then feel better about what s/he felt was so important to go to the mat!!!! Good luck........ I've seen this once b/4 and the employee relations damage was considerable and took a long time to be restored.

PAhr

Here is thread about this very same subject a month ago.

[url]http://www.hrhero.com/employersforum/DCForumID14/3332.html[/url]

Brad Forrister

Your boss is right that he can polygraph if it's pursuant to an investigation of a specific economic loss to the company - the theft of the unit. But he can't just polygraph everybody. He can only polygraph those who had access to the property and about whom the employer has a reasonable suspicion - and access to the property alone isn't enough to constitute reasonable suspicion.

Even then, there are specific notices, prerequisites, and recordkeeping requirements. And the test results alone aren't enough to fire the person with - you have to have other evidence besides the results of the polygraph or the refusal to take one.

There are a couple of articles behind the password from the Indiana Employment Law Letter on this, if you need more info.

Brad Forrister
Director of Publishing
M. Lee Smith Publishers

cebudragonlady

Employee relations could sink like a lead balloon over this. Once, over twenty years ago, I worked for a hotel. There was a theft of a sizeable amount of money. So the powers that be decided to do polygraph tests on all employees - with no advance warning. One day, while arriving at the hotel, the manager grabbed me by the arm and pulled me toward the room where the polygraph testing was done. I was in there for three hours answering all kinds of questions , and the attatchments were very painful.I passed the test, as did all the who were subjected to the test. The money was never recovered. Employee morale took a dive. No wonder.

Chari

Don D

Well, he might 'can' polygraph. But an employee always has the right to refuse or to demand that the testing be stopped once begun. That seems to affect the employers 'right' to some degree doesn't it?