Is it legal for an employer to record your phone conversation without your knowledge?

Question

An employee was "shopped" at work, and was never made aware that their conversation was recorded. Our boss said this was legal, is it? I always thought that you had to be told that you were being recorded on the phone? (This fellow employee is devestated, they had a great shop, but they are upset about the situation.)

Answer 1

The answer is: if it is in the handbook but you did not read it , your out of luck, it is your duty as an employee to know the policies and procedures of the company that you work for. If it is not in the empoyee handbook, then it is still not actually illegal, unless it is a private call to a non-employee, since personal calls made on your own time is covered under the reasonalbe expectation of privacy clasue in your civil rights. if you are on the companies time and are speaking to a fellow employee, manager or owner it is not illegal to record the call, but if you are not notified then it would be inadmisable in court or for any disiplanary actions.

Answer 2

When someone calls your place of business - is there a recording saying that calls may be recorded for training purposes or for quality care?

If so, she's out of luck...

If not, some states allow recording if only one person on the phone knows that it's being recorded.

Some require both parties to know.

Answer 3

If the phone belongs to the employer, they have the right to monitor that phone without advanced warning, that's an unwritten rule that most people understand as a condition of employment! If the phone is a private phone used as a condition of employment, that is a grey area, because it is a joint use phone! I'm not sure about the legalities here!

Answer 4

No, the employer could never use the recording in court because the employee didn't know that they were being recorded.

Answer 5

Read the employee handbook. Most employers state at some point that all correspondence, be it electronic, telephonic or on paper, is subject to monitoring. It's their phone system so they can do what they want.

Answer 6

sorry, but the phones belong to the company you work for, so if the company allows their conversation to be recorded then its allowed.

it can be used only for company purposes; for anything legal (ie used in court) nope.

Answer 7

Depends on your state/local laws. But a general rule is that you give up a lot of your rights to privacy when on someone else's property.

Answer 8

If you are at work, yes. If he calls you at home and records it without your consent, no.