Recording a Conversation

[TEAK36]

Is it legal to record a conversation (at work) without the other person knowing? Could the recording be used as evidence in a court case?

I have looked a previous posts regarding this, but there seems to be a 50/50 split as to whether this is legal or not.

Can anyone point me to some sort of legal website that would answer my question?

[Ethel]

Yes it is legal - in very limited circumstances. There must be a strong suspicion of serious criminal activity, the monitoring must only continue for a reasonable length of time and must stop as soon as the evidence is gathered.

Any information gathered that is not related to the criminal activity must be disregarded unless it is of such nature that it would be unreasonable to expect the employer to disregard it.

Your Human Rights do not come in to it - that gives people the right to privacy in the home, not the workplace.

Any evidence gathered re the criminal activity can be used in court.

http://www.out-law.com/page-445
http://www.personneltoday.com/Articles/2005/09 /20/19315/qa-employment-practices-data-protect ion-code.html

If you google 'covert monitoring in the workplace' you will find plenty of information. Make sure it is relevant to the UK though.