Legal Question in Employment Law in Georgia

Re: Audio Tape Recording Employees

Hello. Jim Zito here. As a former in-house General Counsel of a public company, I have had to deal with differing versions of this question. The answer is: It depends.

You have not clarified what you mean by "audio tape" - I presume you mean either record telephone conversations in which the employee is involved, or record "in person" conversations that the employee is having with someone.

A big part of the answer to either question will depend on whether the person DOING the recording is an actual PARTY to the conversation being recorded. Generally speaking, under Georgia law, any person who is an actual PARTY to a conversation (whether in person, or over a telephone), has the right to record the conversation, because it is, after all, "that person's" conversation. And because either party has the right to record the conversation, the OTHER party (who is presumed to know the law) should ANTICIPATE that the conversation MIGHT be recorded, and thus would have NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY.

HOWEVER: although a PARTY to a conversation may record it, someone who is NOT a party may NOT, generally, record a conversation without the permission of the parties. To do so secretly (without advising the parties) is called eavesdropping, and, with a few exceptions, is illegal.

Exceptions to the eavesdropping rule include, of course, when a police agency has a warrant to conduct wiretapping or recording of suspected criminal activity. Additionally (and this is the part that may apply to you!), an employer MAY be permitted to listen in on an employee's conversations PROVIDED the employer has taken steps to ensure that the employee has NO expectation of privacy in their conversations. Sometimes this occurs at the outset of emplyment, at which time the employer notifies the new employee of a whole bunch of rules (maybe in a handbook) and has the employee acknowlege that he/she has been advised that "listening in" may occur (allegedly for "quality control" purposes).

I hope this has been helpful.

Sincerely, Jim Zito