According to the Chronicle Herald, people are being turned down for jobs in the Halifax Regional Municipality because of a polygraph test that includes embarrassing questions about animal sex.
Applicants wanting to be police officers or bylaw enforcement officers or even to answer the phone in the dogcatcher’s office must take a lie detector test.
A woman who wanted an information technology job with the municipality says she was humiliated when she was asked whether she had had sex with animals.
…“It’s outrageous that . . . questions that they couldn’t ask under human rights legislation, they can ask by virtue of saying it’s necessary to do a security clearance,” said Nancy Elliott, business agent for the Nova Scotia Union of Public and Private Employees.
Besides the part about having sex with animals, this invasive use of a lie detector for hiring mundane jobs seems like another instance where Mr Show sketches become reality…
UPDATE from the CBC (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2008/12/09/polygraph-study.html?ref=rss)
“Questions to would-be police and firefighters about their sexual practices and drug use are fair, but the way the lie-detector test was purchased doesn’t meet city standards, according to a review.”