R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-6.1-1

Lie detector tests prohibited

Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case State v. Community Distributors, Inc. (1974)

Most recently applied in Oberg v. City of Billings (December 1983)

P.L. 1964, ch. 229, § 1; P.L. 1986, ch. 398, § 1; P.L. 1987, ch. 159, § 2.

How often courts cite this section

citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(a) No employer or agent of any employer shall either orally or in writing request, require, or subject any employee to any lie detector tests as a condition of employment or continued employment.

(b) Written examinations as defined in § 28-6.1-4 may be used as long as the results of the written examinations are not used to form the primary basis for an employment decision.

(c) It is not a valid defense brought under this chapter that the lie detector test was administered outside the state for the purpose of employment within the state.

Official source: Rhode Island General Assembly. Reproduced from public-domain Rhode Island statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.