Periodic Polygraph Exams for Employment
A “Periodic” Lie Detector Test, also referred to as a Personnel Evaluation Exam, is an exam given to an employee to verify that employee’s ongoing honesty and integrity in connection with his/her employment. These exams are often administered on a regular basis to employees, such as every 6 or 12 months, but can also be randomly given to employees. Since the passing of the Federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA) in 1988, the United States no longer permits this type of testing. In other countries, there is no such restriction. Unless the employment laws and regulations prohibit polygraph testing in that country, these types of exams are generally permissible.
When Periodic Polygraph testing is scheduled correctly, the questions on these types of exams usually cover the time frame from the previous polygraph to the present, although new hires will only see questions going back to their date of hire. Unlike a pre-employment lie detector, these exams focus only on the employee’s actions since they were employed. Past issues are not usually addressed, unless these issues create a current conflict at work.
Some typical areas of questioning for Periodic Lie Detector tests include:
- Employee Theft
- Embezzlement
- Failing to perform specific job duties
- Stealing clients
- Stealing client lists
- Selling client lists
- Stealing or passing on company secrets
- Using drugs while working
- Using alcohol while working
- Falsifying incident reports
- Failing to report incidents
- Falsifying progress reports
- Falsifying expense reports
- Actions that could be used for blackmail
- Destruction of company property
- Misuse of company property
- Working for competitors
- Accepting bribes