Polygraph Vetting Services
The assessment of prospective employees regarding integrity, reliability, substance abuse, criminal conduct and work ethic is determinant in order to ensure profitability and sustainability of any business.
Employment risk assessment is an ongoing process. An Employer has the right to “know” the person who is considered for appointment and many Employers conduct pre-employment screening in order to determine the suitability of a prospective employee for appointment.
The benefits of effective pre-employment screening to your company or business entail the following:
- Reduce the risk of appointing an employee not suitable for appointment due to, for instance, past involvement in criminal activity, tendency to criminal behavior, falsified educational credentials, etc.
- An expedient and effective appointment process.
- Improve appointment precision.
- Minimize incidence and cost of theft, losses, absenteeism or other conduct that may pose a threat to the company or business.
- Ensure that employees that are appointed do have the necessary skills to perform the tasks associated with their job descriptions.
Pre-employment screening conducted by Polygraph Vetting Services includes the following:
- Criminal history verification.
- Previous employment/reference verification.
- Educational credential verification.
- Credit history verification.
An Employer also has the right to initiate appropriate action in circumstances that justify suspicion in respect of dishonest behavior or conduct by an employee that is not in accordance with company policy or the law. Regular vetting of personnel by means of polygraph testing is an effective, expedient and cost effective tool to ensure personnel integrity. To this end Polygraph Vetting Services has the capability and expertise to investigate conduct of an employee that constitutes a crime or that is not in accordance with company policy.
Polygraph Vetting Services is suitably qualified and experienced to render the above mentioned services and other specialized services such as general risk assessment and expungement of a criminal record upon request.
Client’s/Employer’s moral and legal responsibility
It remains the client’s/employer’s moral and legal responsibility to ensure that they only utilise polygraphists that conform to the minimum standards advocated by the South African polygraph industry:
- the polygraphist has completed and passed an internationally accredited polygraph course at an accredited polygraph institution;
- has at least ten years of investigative experience;
- have a criminology, law enforcement experience or related tertiary qualification;
- use a modern computerised polygraph equipment;
- use recognised question formats and polygraph procedures;
- is a member of the APA, the world-leaders and trendsetters for the international polygraph profession;
- is also a member of a the local polygraph association; and
- preferably is a member of one or more local security (Psira) By-laws of the APA(American Polygraph Association) or SAPPA (South African Professional Polygraph Association)
The Employee's rights
The employer cannot force any employee to submit to such a test. Refusal to do so does not indicate guilt and is also not necessarily grounds for dismissal. Preferably, the employer should obtain written consent. Secondly, the employer should agree with the Polygraphists on the questions to be asked. It should not be vague, otherwise the employer will sit with answers that do not take his case any further.
Consent means informed consent. For that purpose the employee should be informed that the examinations are voluntary, the reasons for and type of questions should be explained, it should be explained that he/she has a right to have an interpreter and should he/she prefer, another person may be present during the examination, provided that person does not interfere in any way with the proceedings. Generally, employers are permitted to use the polygraph test to investigate specific incidents where employees had access to the property which is the subject of the investigation and there is reasonable suspicion that the employee was involved in the incident.
The employer must also been subjected to economic loss or injury to the employer's business like theft of company property or the employer is involved in situations such as combating dishonesty in positions of trust, or combating serious alcohol, illegal drugs or narcotics abuse or fraudulent behaviour within the company or deliberate falsification of documents and lies regarding the true identity of the people involved. Polygraph results cannot be released to any person but only to an authorised person. Generally it is the person specifically designated in writing by the employer whom requested the examination.