The Labor Department regulations banning the use of polygraph testing will take effect in December. Critics of polygraph testing who claim it is unreliable and demeaning are pleased, but most employers and the companies that administer tests say that security will suffer. Brokerage firms and banks have been among the most vocal critics of the bill. “Employers should not be using this type of test to screen job applicants,” said Mark A. Siegel, a lawyer for the American Bar Association. Sen. Edward Kennedy, the liberal Massachusetts Democrat who heads the Senate Labor Committee, calls polygraphs "20th-century witchcraft." Anyone, including managers and executives, with access to negotiable instruments, currency or securities, as well as confidential information, has been tested.
The Labor Department regulations banning the use of polygraph testing will take effect in December. Critics of polygraph testing who claim it is unreliable and demeaning are pleased, but most employers and the companies that administer tests say that security will suffer. Brokerage firms and banks have been among the most vocal critics of the bill. “Employers should not be using this type of test to screen job applicants,” said Mark A. Siegel, a lawyer for the American Bar Association. Anyone, including managers and executives, with access to negotiable instruments, currency or securities, as well as confidential information, has been tested.