The nature of litigation surrounding five screening devices

This paper reviews the extent of use, reliability, validity, and potential problems of five selection screening devices - reference checks, background investigations, medical exams, drug tests, and polygraph tests. Additional ly, federal court cases involving the five devices from 1978 to the present were identified and content analyzed. Data is reported on: 1) the relative frequency of legal challenges associated with the five screening devices, 2) the outcomes of the legal challenges, 3) the types of charges (e. g., ra ce, sex, age, national origin, or handicap) involved in the cases, and 4) t he job types and organization types associated with the legal challenges. T he results of the study suggest that the use of background investigations a nd reference checks may be legally risky. Also, protective service position s and city government organizations seem to be relatively more prone to lit igation.