Reference no: EM131006969

An employee worked for a military contractor, performing mailroom services at a naval station. One day after work when the mailroom was closed, she returned to retrieve something from the refrigerator. In the process, she discovered fourteen opened and undelivered Christmas cards in the wastebasket. She immediately re- ported the situation to her supervisor. When the supervisor investigated, she found a pay stub among the pieces of undelivered mail. The stub was from the paycheck of another employee who had been working at the front desk for most of that day. All the mailroom employees were sub- sequently asked to submit to a polygraph exam. They were told that the exam was voluntary, and they were asked to sign general release forms. These forms were not signed by any official of the company and did not specifically mention the mail incident or provide the basis for testing each employee. All the employees signed the form. The prime suspect was polygraphed first, and the exam suggested deception in his responses. The contractor still wanted to polygraph the other employees. By this time, the employee who had discovered the undelivered mail refused to take the exam. Less than a week later, she was fired on the grounds that she had accepted package deliveries through the mailroom's back door in violation of naval security procedures. The em- ployee sued, challenging both the polygraph request and her termination. What should the court decide? Why? (Polkey v. Transtecs Corp., 404 F.3d 1264 (11th Cir. 2005))