Hey guys, First I want to thank all of you for creating such an informative site and forum. I hope polygraphs will one day be eradicated, as everything I have learned about them has told me that this is junk science, and no one should put their own integrity on the line just to be "cleared" by some wack-job examiner. My story is this: I am currently working for a domestic cleaning company, doing janitorial work for one of our contracts, which is a bank -- the name I won't give. Last weekend, while I was off work, the bank was broken into and some money and computers were stolen from one of the floors -- that I clean. The breakin was made up to look like the janitors did it; carts left out, janitor closets opened and keys used. The security guard who came in later said he saw someone on the fourth floor who looked like me, even though the person was in one of the restrooms and the guard never was able to clearly identify whether or not it was me, he said the person just kinda looked me -- sorta. No positive ID. Well, I got a call the following Monday from my boss telling me what had happened and that the bank was asking for me to take a polygraph to clear my story, even though no police nor anyone from the bank ever called or came by my house to see what my side of the story was. I've always been critical of technology like polygraphs being used to vindicate or even indicte human truth. But after talking it over with friends and family, as well as searching sites like this one for info, I told them I refused to take one; my alibi was solid and I had two witnesses who could verify that I was where I was when the breakin happened, which was at home watching tv! Now, the evidence against me is weak, the bank has said that they won't press charges either way, and my alibi is solid, yet the bank has told my boss that unless I take it, I will have to be let go. I have decided to stand my ground and not take one, come what may. So I'll now probably have to quit and look for work elsewhere. I have another PT job on the side that will at least put some money in my pocket for the time being, but it looks like I'm going to lose my job, not only because I've refused to take a polygraph, but because of the shady testimony of a guard who, from what I've been told, may even lose his job over this because the whole thing would have been solved if the guard had only checked to make sure who that person was in the bathroom -- which of course he would have seen that it wasn't me! I never in a million years thought this kind of thing would happen to me. I have no criminal record, I obey the laws, pay my taxes, and get up and go to work everyday, just like every other hard working American. But I'm now going to lose my job because of stupid security procedures and a group of bankers that feel so distrusting of everyone that they'd rather just hang an innocent man rather than try and search through the evidence to find the guilty party, or even just let it go since they said they aren't going to prosecute anyway. All of this makes no sense to me, that I would lose my job, not because I was found guilty or clearly identified as the thief, but because I would make the decision to stand by my principles and not take a polygraph! I've looked up the laws concerning my rights under the EPPA, but I'd like any advice that you guys might have, and any action that I could or should take. This whole thing has left me stressed out, angry as can be, and more or less exhausted by the system procedures that guarantee that honest, hard working people like myself will be constantly shut out of the loop and turned into scapegoats.
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