Legal Question in Criminal Law in Michigan

Secretly recording these conversations is likely a crime. The supervisor might be liable in a lawsuit.

MCL 750. 539c. Any person who is present or who is not present during a private conversation and who wilfully uses any device to eavesdrop upon the conversation without the consent of all parties thereto, or who knowingly aids, employs or procures another person to do the same in violation of this section, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for not more than 2 years or by a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or both.

As for using the freedom of information act - will the supervisor admit s/he has the recordings? I guess not.

The first attorney's reply that this is "likely a crime" is wrong. And the statute that the previous attorney cited involves a person "eavesdropping' by recording a conversation between OTHER parties.

Michigan is a "one party" state, meaning that only one participant in a conversation has to consent to the conversation being recorded. (Other states require all parties to consent.) So, in Michigan, a person can record their OWN conversations without the other person knowing it is happening.

So, with the limited facts you gave, it is likely NOT illegal for the person to be recording conversations he/she is involved with because that same person knows it is happening and is consenting to it.

Is this recording a "public record" and subject to release by FOIA? Possibly. MCL 15.232(e) defines "public record" as "a writing prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the performance of an official function, from the time it is created." And subsection (h) defines "writing" as "handwriting, typewriting, printing, photostating, photographing, photocopying, and every other means of recording, and includes letters, words, pictures, sounds, or symbols, or combinations thereof, and papers, maps, magnetic or paper tapes, photographic films or prints, microfilm, microfiche, magnetic or punched cards, discs, drums, or other means of recording or retaining meaningful content."

So the recording is a writing, but is it a public record? Only if it is "prepared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public body in the performance of an official function, from the time it is created".