many of us are employed to only seeing “lie detectors” on television shows, usually dramas. So when an employer or business asks you to take a polygraph examination, it can come as an astonishment and you can be protected underneath the employee polygraph shelter act (eppa) from having to take it.
polygraphs or “lie detectors” are machines that read several measurements at once on somebody: breathing rate, heart rate, blood pressure levels, and responses in the skin. These levels are then employed to determine the physiological stress levels at dissimilar intervals of the questioning process. The transcript is then looked at by a polygraph examiner who is the ultimate decider on if the employee (or subject) is telling the truth. Much controversy arises from this last step because there is a probability of error in reading the effects.
the eppa has established specific polygraph testing and restricting guidelines for a good deal of private employers underneath federal law. These standards are not required of government entities, federal government-associated businesses or agencies, public school employees, or anyone employed with or a allocation of a correctional facility. This means that anyone underneath this umbrella can be asked by their employer to take a lie detector test.
most private employers, however, can not ask the same of their employees unless certain conditions utilize. If the employee refuses to take the polygraph test, he or she can not be fired, disciplined, or be discriminated versus for not doing so.
commercial businesses that can be permitted to employ a polygraph test underneath the eppa guidelines are:
-security service companies such like security guard or alarm services
-businesses associated with the formulating and distribution of pharmaceuticals
-businesses whose employees are probable suspects in an incident of theft in the workplace that caused a financial loss to the employer
certain standards ought to be met for a polygraph such like the way in which the test are going to be handled before the test, for the duration of the test, and after the test. Naturally, the polygraph examiner ought to also be licensed and be professionally insured.
many employers exercise rights that they don’t have at the expense of their employees. If you or somebody you know would like more data on polygraph tests, eppa guidelines, or how both these items relate to your rights as an employee, contact the Houston employment lawyers of the ross law group.
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