Is it legal to tape record phone conversations at work without the other party having knowledge of it?
Such conduct does not violate Federal law. However, many states have laws which prohibit such conduct such as California and Maryland. It is the union’s position that employees and managers should never tape record telephone or personal conversations without knowledge and approval of the other person. Even then, we strongly discourage its use because by tape recording the other party to a conversation, even with his or her consent, you are implicitly accusing the other party of being a liar. This hinders healthy labor-management relations. It is NWSEO’s legal policy not to use any surreptitious tape recording in any defense of an employee in a disciplinary, EEO or other case. You may be interested in knowing that in a recent case which I handled on behalf of another union, the Arbitrator sustained the demotion of an employee in part because he had secretly tape recorded a telephone conversation with a company official. The Arbitrator ruled that the company was justified in part in demo
