You and the Law: Should I submit to a lie detector test? - Eureka Times-Standard

Posted: 04 Feb 2020 02:18 PM PST

"Mr. Beaver, I am in upper management at high-quality meat processing plant in the Midwest. Over the past several months we have experienced a significant loss of expensive sides of beef, but it has not been continuous, just time to time.

"I have an idea who is behind this theft. I believe it is a group of employees, but can't say for sure. It is more than a feeling, more than a hunch, but I do not have real evidence of who is doing what," "Jody" wrote.

"Our CEO wants to run all employees on a polygraph to be administered by a private investigator. Am I legally obligated to submit to the examination? What happens if I refuse? Can I be terminated? What has been your experience in your law practice with the polygraph? Do you believe that it accurately can detect who is telling the truth? Are some people more likely than others to fail the test?"

Some polygraph facts

The first polygraph dates from 1921, when a California-based policeman and physiologist John A. Larson developed an instrument to measure continuous changes in blood pressure, heart rate and respiration rate in order to aid in the detection of deception. The operative theory was that your body's own reactions would reveal lying.

Until 1988, lie detectors were routinely used on employees and job applicants, and still are for certain types of employment.
Employers often asked employees and applicants questions about private matters — often having nothing to do with the actual job and the lie detector would reach a conclusion as to their honesty. Even people who were truthful often appeared — to the machine — as deceptive, and eventually the accuracy of the polygraph came to be seriously doubted.

The Federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act, passed in 1988, virtually outlawed using lie detectors in connection with employment.

Under the act, it is illegal for private companies to:

• Require, request, suggest, or cause any employee or job applicant to submit to a lie detector test;

• Use, accept, refer to, or inquire about the results of any lie detector test conducted on an employee or job applicant, or;

• Dismiss, discipline, discriminate against, or even threaten to take action against any employee or job applicant who refuses to take a lie detector test.

The law also prohibits employers from discriminating against or firing those who claim its protections.

Government employees are generally not protected by this law, however civil service rules offers some protection.

When tests may be used

The Employee Polygraph Protection Act permits polygraph tests with jobs in security and handling drugs or in investigating theft or other crimes. Before you can be required to take the test, a 48-hour notice must be provided, which states that you are a suspect. A provable, reasonable suspicion that you were involved in the theft or other conduct triggering the investigation must be established.

It is important to note that an employee may refuse to take the test. Additionally, the Act does not apply to employees of federal, state, or local government, nor to certain jobs that handle sensitive work relating to national defense.

State laws often further restrict the ability of running an employee on the polygraph, so that is something important to look into.

Controversial at best

Some years ago the American Psychological Association issued this statement:

"The accuracy (i.e., validity) of polygraph testing has long been controversial. An underlying problem is theoretical: There is no evidence that any pattern of physiological reactions is unique to deception. An honest person may be nervous when answering truthfully and a dishonest person may be non-anxious. Also, there are few good studies that validate the ability of polygraph procedures to detect deception."

With that in mind, my advice to Jody would be to politely decline being tested on the polygraph. While innocent, that scent of suspicion could do him great harm.

Why lie detector tests can be unreliable - and how to cheat them - inews

Posted: 21 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST

Polygraph machines don't actually detect lies, they detect anxiety or nervous excitement by measuring bodily responses like blood pressure

Tuesday, 21st January 2020, 6:29 pm

A lie detector test being conducted in 1937 (Photo: Keystone/Getty)

Despite psychologists widely agreeing they're inherently unreliable, and the National Academy of Sciences finding the majority of polygraph research was "unreliable, unscientific and biased", the Government has said this week it will force convicted terrorists to take a test to prove they've reformed and are not planning another attack.

A polygraph is thought to be better than flipping a coin to work out whether someone is telling the truth, but far from achieving consistent and reliable results.

The Government's idea is part of a raft of measures drawn up in the aftermath of the most recent London Bridge attack to strengthen monitoring of offenders. It might be appealing to think that lie detectors could help prevent horrific violence, but it's not a sure-fire way to find out who is a threat.

Nervous excitement

Polygraph machines don't actually detect lies, they detect anxiety or nervous excitement by measuring bodily responses like blood pressure, changes in a person's breathing, and sweaty palms. Interviewers ask a number of control questions during the test and then compare the physiological responses to those questions to the really relevant questions.

The issue is that the examinee's response will only be registered as a lie if it seems like more of a lie than the control lie. This assumes that liars will show a physical reaction when answering the key questions, whereas truth tellers will not – and that's simply not always the case.

A computerized polygraph machine being used in a simulated situation on February 26, 2007 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo: Dima Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty)

Polygraphers are increasingly wise to how their tests can be manipulated, and a former Oklahoma City police officer was sentenced in 2015 to two years in prison for coaching undercover Federal agents who said they wanted to cover up their crimes.

Skilful liars can mimic physiological responses and manipulate polygraphs, and one can read up on how to trick the machine.

How to cheat it

According to George Maschke and Gino Scalabrini, authors of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, there are four ways to beat the test: Change your heart rate , breathing rate, blood pressure and sweat level while answering control questions. Think scary, upsetting thoughts throughout the whole test, but appear calm and in control.

Quicken your breathing during control questions, but breathe again normally before answering the next question. Calm yourself before answering by imagining anything you find relaxing.

Answer "yes" or "no" whenever possible. Do not explain answers, give details, or offer explanations. If asked to expand on a question, reply: "What more do you want me to say?" or "There's really nothing to say about that."

During a polygraph's pre-test interview, the tester usually asks a person to answer questions they are likely to lie about. These include questions like: "Have you ever stolen money?".

Lie in response to control questions, but also bite your tongue hard while doing so, which will set off other physiological reactions in the body. The tester may think you react badly when lying, so you'll be skewing the test early on.

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