Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Re: Personality Test

I worked for WA State Govt for 21 years and personally got really mad to hear that a govt agency would try to require you to comply with something like this. What a bunch of bull!

I read Ms. Beecher's response and agree with her 100% - she wrote an excellent response to you.

It's one thing to require employees to engage in training, such as sexual harassment training, but it's entirely another to make you reveal personal information. You didn't give away your right of privacy just because you took a job.

I've never heard of this personality test, but I'd certainly want more information about the test AND what the employer plans to do with the results.

I can only speak for myself, but if it were me, I'd very politely decline to participate.

Any chance this is Pierce County? It sure sounds like something Pierce would do!

Best of luck to you. It seems as though there are at least two WA attorneys (Ms. Beecher and myself) who'd want a lot more questions answered if we were you.

Merry A. Kogut

[email protected]

Serving all of WA State

Re: Personality Test

This raises lots of red flags. Such tests are frowned upon in the hiring process, unless the employer can show that they test skills directly related to the job. Otherwise, employers open themselves to accusations of possible discriminatory intent. I can't imagine they would be approved by the court for existing employees.

Also, this appears to be a psychology test of some sort. Is the department director going to bring in a licensed psychologist to administer the test? Have you signed a HIPAA release regarding this information?

And of course, the fact that it is being administered in a group raises all kinds of privacy issues.

Whether you refuse the test is up to you. I think you have good grounds to do so, but if you are subsequently fired, it will take some time to get things turned around for you again. However, if you take the test and have undesirable results, you will also have to take legal steps to suppress those and protect your rights. Either way, if you have a bad outcome as a result of this poorly conceived adventure, you have a very strong case against your employer, particularly if your employment record is otherwise good.

If you are in a union and have a shop stewart, take this matter to him or her. Otherwise, you may want to bing this to the attention of someone higher up, in as nonconfrontational a way as possible. Let's hope wiser heads prevail.