In a 1982 Massachusetts case, salespeople for Bristol-Myers were fired for resisting an integrity test. Here the judge describes what happened:

The questionnaire, entitled Biographical Summary, sought information which, it represented, would be held in strict confidence. The subjects covered included business experience, education, family, home ownership, physical data, activities, and aims….

Questions … concerned

(a) serious illnesses, operations, accidents, or nervous disorders,

(b) smoking and drinking habits,

(c) off-the-job problems, and

(d) principal worries, if any…. [Employee] Cort, however, gave limited answers, one of which he admitted was wrong. He was not married in 1960, 1961, and 1962. He listed his dog as a dependent.

He gave no information, as the others did, about parents or siblings, if any.

Cort answered [other] questions … largely in a flippant manner…. He wrote as to his principal strengths: “Able to leap tall bldg. at a single bound.” As to his principal weaknesses: “Can’t land on my feet.” Activities in which he would prefer not to engage:

“Filling in questions on forms of very personal nature that are no one’s business but mine.” He suggested “$1,000,000” as the income he would need to live the way he would like to. Answering concerning plans for the future, he wrote, “Depends on who reads this.” He followed his questionnaire with a memorandum to his superiors asking the value to Bristol-Myers of answers to the following questions: “what medications I may be taking, the age and health of my mother and father, the occupations of my brothers and sisters, the value of my house and the amount of mortgage, whose support outside of my immediate family I contribute to, how much I smoke and drink each day, my wife’s maiden name, and what personal problems I have outside of business.”

The court decided Cort and his co-workers were at-will employees with no cause of action for privacy invasion:

Questions about family and home ownership were probably not of much significance to Bristol-Myers, but those questions were not improperly intrusive, sought information mostly available in public records, and … were no more intrusive than those asked on an application for life insurance or for a bank loan.

— CORT V. BRISTOL-MYERS CO., 431 N.E. 2D 908 (1982).

Internet Assignment: In your state, are there any cases dealing with psychological or honesty testing? What was the outcome?