There are many posters required by law to be posted at your place of business and the Utah Labor Commission (ULC) a few additional ones including a Workers Compensation poster and an Occupational Safety and Health poster. We’ll get to those a little further down but first I want to discuss the poster created by the Employee Polygraph Protection Act. Perhaps Utah is not the most trusting state are perhaps there are a lot of liars there but either way the state did pass this law which comes with a posting requirement where all employees can see it.

The act seeks to protect employee rights by prohibiting most private employers from using lie detector tests either for pre-employment screening or during the course of employment. this means that employers are generally prohibited from requiring or requesting any employee or job applicant to take a lie detector test. They also may not fire, discipline, or discriminate against an employee or prospective employee for exercising this right.

The law doesn’t apply to Federal, State or local governments or to private individuals engaged in national security-related activities. This extends to security firms, such as those that deal with armored car, security companies, or pharmaceutical manufacturers. Some employers are also permitted to administer polygraph tests to those they suspect in a workplace incident, such as theft or embezzlement.

Now in these situations where the polygraph is permitted there are quite a few strict standards that need to be met. Examinees have a number of specific rights including written notice before testing and the right to refuse or discontinue the test.

The Secretary of Labor can bring court actions to restrain violations, but employees and job applicants may also.