Lawsuit: Sex store worker fired for failing polygraph

ORLANDO, Fla., March 3 (UPI) -- A former Florida sex shop worker is suing her ex-employer after she was fired for failing a polygraph test designed to root out a thief.

Tony Panzino, owner of the Premier Couples Superstore in Orlando, said he had 10 employees undergo polygraph tests after more than $6,000 in lingerie was stolen from the shop and Amitra Alexander was the only worker to fail the test, WKMG-TV, Orlando, reported Monday.

Alexander, who was fired from the store, filed a federal lawsuit alleging Panzino violated a law banning most private employers from using lie detector tests on their workers. The suit says Panzino told the workers they were not suspects, but they would be fired if they refused to take the test.

Panzino said Alexander was not fired due to her polygraph results, which he described as "99 percent fail," but rather for the way she behaved in his office after being informed of the test results.

The Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 only allows employers to polygraph test "certain employees of private firms who are reasonably suspected of involvement in a workplace incident that resulted in specific economic loss or injury to the employer."

Alexander and her attorney, Andres Rivera-Ortiz, declined to comment on the lawsuit, WKMG-TV said.