Lie Test Rule Leads to $12.1-Million Award

A judge has approved a $12.1-million settlement for job applicants at Federated retail electronics stores who were required to take lie-detector tests.

The settlement was reached just before a trial was to begin on a lawsuit by four employees who said the tests violated the right to privacy and a state law forbidding mandatory polygraph testing by private employers. A recent federal law also bans the practice.

It is the nation’s largest settlement in a lie-detector case, said Brad Seligman, a lawyer for the employees.

Under the agreement approved Tuesday by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Demetrios Agretelis, the four plaintiffs will get $22,500 each, and about $11 million will be put into a fund for job applicants at Federated stores in California from 1983 to November, 1987, when the lawsuit was filed.

Federated must also pay for a campaign to reach the 8,000 or more job applicants and employees at its stores who are potentially eligible for payments.