§1314 — Title 2 The Congress | U.S. Code

§1314 Rights and protections under Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988

Title 2 › Chapter CHAPTER 24— - CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - EXTENSION OF RIGHTS AND PROTECTIONS › Part Part A— - Employment Discrimination, Family and Medical Leave, Fair Labor Standards, Employee Polygraph Protection, Worker Adjustment and Retraining, Employment and Reemployment of Veterans, and Intimidation › § 1314

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Employing offices must not make covered employees take polygraph (lie detector) tests when those tests would be banned under the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988. The same waiver rules in section 6(d) of that Act apply to covered employees. “Covered employee” includes Government Accountability Office (GAO) staff, and “employing office” includes the GAO. The Capitol Police may still use polygraphs, but only under rules made under subsection (c). The remedy for breaking these rules is the same as the one in section 6(c)(1) of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988. The Board must issue rules under section 1384 to carry this out. Those rules should follow the Department of Labor’s rules unless the Board shows and explains a good reason to change them. Subsections (a) and (b) take effect 1 year after January 23, 1995, except for the GAO and the Library of Congress, for which they take effect 1 year after transmission to the Congress of the study under section 1371 of this title.

Title 2, §1314

The Congress — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)(1)No employing office, irrespective of whether a covered employee works in that employing office, may require a covered employee to take a lie detector test where such a test would be prohibited if required by an employer under paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 3 of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (29 U.S.C. 2002(1), (2), or (3)). In addition, the waiver provisions of section 6(d) of such Act (29 U.S.C. 2005(d)) shall apply to covered employees.

(2)For purposes of this section, the term “covered employee” shall include employees of the Government Accountability Office and the term “employing office” shall include the Government Accountability Office.

(3)Nothing in this section shall preclude the Capitol Police from using lie detector tests in accordance with regulations under subsection (c).

(b)The remedy for a violation of subsection (a) shall be such remedy as would be appropriate if awarded under section 6(c)(1) of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (29 U.S.C. 2005(c)(1)).

(c)(1)The Board shall, pursuant to section 1384 of this title, issue regulations to implement this section.

(2)The regulations issued under paragraph (1) shall be the same as substantive regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Labor to implement the statutory provisions referred to in subsections (a) and (b) except insofar as the Board may determine, for good cause shown and stated together with the regulation, that a modification of such regulations would be more effective for the implementation of the rights and protections under this section.

(d)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), subsections (a) and (b) shall be effective 1 year after January 23, 1995.

(2)This section shall be effective with respect to the Government Accountability Office and the Library of Congress 1 year after transmission to the Congress of the study under section 1371 of this title.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

2018—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 115–141 struck out “and the Library of Congress” after “the Government Accountability Office” in two places. 2004—Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 108–271 substituted “Government Accountability Office” for “General Accounting Office” in two places. Subsec. (d)(2). Pub. L. 108–271 substituted “Government Accountability Office” for “General Accounting Office” in heading and text.