I am writing this on behalf of my wife who is at work currently so I lack the intament knowledge of the finer details she would have, however the end result is she was told she was lying.

A large sum of money was taken from her work (She manages a hotel).  During the start of the "investigation" the company requested the polygraph of all the individuals who where working the day of the theft (which my wife wasn't, we were in a city 1.5 hours away visiting family).  The police were keeping my wife in the loop because she was basically running the companies end of the investigation, another employee was suspended for being thought to have taken the money (she had at the very least left the safe open).  When that employee went in to take the "test" she claimed an abscessed tooth and he results were deemed non conclusive (this same employee had quit a week before the money went missing and had been given her job back on a technicality), she still hasn't been in to retest, as well as people has said she doesn't intend to come back to work period, claiming she has yet to be to a dentist. That was 2 weeks ago.  On Monday this week my wife received a call from the detective saying that they would like her to come in on Thursday if the employee didn't show to have herself polygraphed, my wife being the trusting person she is said she would, after all she had nothing to fear, she didn't take the money, we weren’t even here.  After the polygraph was taken she was informed she lied on two questions "Did you take the money" and "Do you know who took the money", however she told the truth when asked "will you lie on this polygraph" and she said "No".  They then took her to a room and "interrogated" her, breaking her down to tears, using everything that happened during the poly against her, including idle "chit chat" between "tests" that the test giver initiated (something about honest people not bothering with chit chat between tests). They showed her her paper and said that they knew she was lying because a black line spiked considerably, however they said the red line went down a lot as well at the same time.  The only thing she did differently on those two questions was answer very firmly "No".  Once she was released they asked for her supervisors name and phone number, then called him to discuss the results with him, however to our knowledge they employer never requested my wife’s polygraph test, which is shown by them asking her for that information.

In closing we have no idea what to do, we know she didn't take it, and I have no reason to believe my wife would lie to me.  We have an appointment with a lawyer today but we still fear repercussions from the company.  We have been told she can not suffer repercussions from the results of a polygraph test, but the hotel she manages is being sold so we are concerned that they may find it "convenient" not to find a new place for her, all though there would be no reason not to except this "failure" of the polygraph.  It is our understanding is that they can not share the results even with the employer if they didn’t order the polygraph. Any ideas would be well appreciated.

P.S My wife called me just now and said that they other employee (the one with the abscessed tooth) is now planning on coming back to work; the day after my wife failed this test.  Also from what my wife tells me this employee seemed to know all the officers at the station when they had gone down to file then initial report.

The test was given at roucky Mount Police Station, Rocky Mount, NC.

I agree.  Also hoping to find maybe someone who has experienced the same thing and may be able to share some of how they got through it, as you can imagine we are stressing pretty hard over here.  Thank you for the link, printing it out now.

Anyone know where I can find numerical data on how often polygraphs are over turned or disproven?  If it is in the book, just say it is in the book, I am still reading it.
Thanks in advance all.

EosJupiter wrote on Oct 6^th, 2006 at 7:23pm:


We expect that as well, but does the EPPA say they can't release the results of a polygraph to the employer unless they requested it?