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Workplace & Employee Theft Investigations

Appointment

2 to 3 hours

Format

Single issue — one clearly defined question

Report

Written, within one working day

Locations

49 rooms across Georgia

The governing law is the federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988. Its default rule is a prohibition: most private employers may not request, require, suggest or cause an employee or applicant to take a lie detector test, and may not discipline or dismiss anyone for refusing one.

The ongoing-investigation exemption

The exemption most employers rely on requires all of the following to be true:

• The examination is part of an ongoing investigation into a specific economic loss or injury to the employer — an actual theft, embezzlement or sabotage, not a general suspicion that something is going on.
• The employee being asked had access to the property in question.
• The employer has a reasonable suspicion, based on articulable facts, that this particular employee was involved.
• The employee is given a signed statement, before the examination, setting out the specific loss, the basis for testing them in particular, and their rights.

Beyond that, the employee must be told they can refuse, can stop at any point, and cannot be dismissed or disciplined on the basis of the refusal or the result alone. That last point catches employers out constantly. A polygraph result is not, by itself, a lawful ground for dismissal under the Act.

We will ask to see how the exemption is being satisfied before we accept the instruction. Where it plainly is not — a blanket request that a whole shift be tested is the usual example — we decline, and we would rather lose the work than help an employer into a federal claim. If you are unsure whether your situation qualifies, take employment law advice before you call us, not after.

Georgia adds no separate state statute here; the federal Act is the operative law, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces it.

What this covers

• Specific-loss investigations only, never blanket staff testing
• Written EPPA statement prepared and served before the examination
• Employee rights explained in full, on the record
• Instruction declined where the exemption is not properly met
• Report confined to the examination and its limits

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