Coors to Stop Using Lie Detectors

Adolph Coors Co. plans to stop its controversial use of lie detectors to screen job applicants, switching to other screening methods starting Monday, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The Denver Post said that the brewing company, which has more than 10,000 employees nationwide, has been looking for alternatives to the polygraph since Congress began considering a variety of bills that would curb use of lie detectors in work-place screening.

“If people are on narcotics we’ll find it. We’ll also find communists,” said Richard Bond, Coors’ director of placement, in commenting on the new screening methods that will replace the polygraph.

During the 1970s, Coors’ use of the polygraph was the main issue of contention between the company and the brewery workers’ union. The union was broken after a 1977 strike, and use of the polygraph continued largely as a pre-employment screening tool.

Coors’ new screening program will require applicants first to submit to a drug test and then to complete a 12-page standardized test on such things as attitudes toward theft and dishonesty in the workplace. Applicants who survive those two hurdles then will have their applications and resumes checked out by Equifax Services, a national audit and loss-control firm.