I am a manager for a large organization and have direct responsibility for about 30 or so hourly employees. I frequently counsel employees regarding performance and behavior issues and always try to have a witness in my office when I’m speaking to them. There are rare occasions when I need to speak with employees immediately and witnesses are not available. I am curious as to whether it is legal for me to record employee counseling sessions using a digital voice recorder without the employee’s knowledge or consent. I really dislike the idea of secret recordings, but might resort to doing so for my own protection as well as memorializing the conversation for later written documentation. If it matters, I work in the state of Georgia.
You are going to have to talk to a lawyer licensed in your state about this. This is a standard disclaimer on this site but it is especially true since the liability for your company is so high.
They are going to have to shell out to find out the exact rules and procedures for such things and there are probably standards in the state that a lawyer would know about.
That said, employers have broad authority to record what goes on in the workplace n most states. Data on company computers, even if it is personal information like e-mails, is generally the employers. I have worked around call centers that recorded every mouse movement and phone conversation (Massachusetts). Lots of employees get put under video surveillance at most times.
I doubt there is a problem with doing it but you have to put everything in order legally speaking before you can do it at all.
Argo. I’m sorry if you’re disappointed with my closing of your interesting question.
Since this is a real-life situation for you and your company, I don’t think you want to be relying on anecdotal advice from this board. We have some pretty sharp cookies here, but this is after all only a message board. Many of our posters are, in real life, chimpanzees.
It sounds like your company is large enough to absorb the cost of a legal opinion given by someone licensed in your state.
