Cengage Advantage Books: Law for Business 19th Edition by John Ashcroft,Katherine Ashcroft,Martha Patterson

Exercise 8

E mployee Daniel Worden called SunTrust bank claiming two men had kidnapped him in order to rob the bank. Worden asked a coworker to open the vault, but the coworker refused and told another employee to call the police. Worden told police he was held in his home overnight at gunpoint by two men who wanted to use him to rob the bank and threatened to kill him. He claimed the kidnappers had abandoned him when they realized their plan had failed. The police told Worden they suspected he was behind the attempted robbery. He agreed to take a polygraph examination. The police told Kevin Brock, a SunTrust manager, of their suspicions and Worden's agreement to the test. The polygraph examiner announced that Worden had failed the exam. The FBI gave a second test to which Worden consented. No one from SunTrust requested, participated in, or was present during either polygraph exam. The FBI told Worden the results indicated "deception," and he was a suspect. Worden told Brock he failed the second polygraph. The police told Brock that Worden was their prime suspect and that he would likely be charged with the crime. Telling him that SunTrust had concerns based on law enforcement's belief he had been involved in the attempted robbery, Worden was fired. The polygraphs were not mentioned. SunTrust had discharged another employee under virtually identical circumstances, except there had been no polygraph. Worden sued SunTrust, alleging that SunTrust had violated the EPPA by basing its decision to fire him on the polygraphs. Should Worden succeed?