Recording a conversation

[einsganzer]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?Missouri

I work at a private university and I feel that my manager constantly harasses me in an attempt to fire me. I have worked here for three years, my first review was spectacular, the second year I was given no review and this year I was reviewed as absolutely awful all by the same manager. There is a process of termination that the University must follow and whether I resign from the stress or she follows this procedure it affects my unemployment claim. I have been given several warnings by my manager regarding things that are fabricated or distorted in some way to project the image that I am a difficult employee or not doing my job and will most likely lead to my being fired. I am in my 60's and close to retirement and was hoping to work here until that time for the benefits. It really makes no sense for me to be a difficult employee and putting those benefits in jeopardy. Now I have approached HR regarding how I am being treated by my manager and it really comes down to my word against hers. My manger is constantly changing her story, and denies my allegations, so the question is: Can I secretly tape a conversation between me and my boss in private if I am the one party involved to prove just how this woman says one thing to HR and another to me? I live and work in Missouri and I am going to most likely lose my job anyway, but I want to avoid any legal recourse by doing this yet vindicate myself.

Thank you for your time and consideration

 

[seniorjudge]

The Missouri Bar - Chapter 14 - Eavesdropping Wiretapping

Read that and report back.

Also, Google is your friend.

Google missouri eavesdropping



There are tons of sites giving info on eavesdropping laws in all the states.

 

[einsganzer]

Okay,

What I got is this:

i. Consent

The most significant exception to Title III relates to consent of a party to the communication. Section 2510(2)(d) makes it lawful for "a person not acting under color of law to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication where such person is a party to the communication or where one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent" to the interception.51 Therefore, even if a party to a conversation records a conversation without revealing this information to the other participants, there is no criminal or civil liability under Title III.52 The exception, however, is subject to an important limitation: it will not apply if the communication is intercepted "for the purpose of committing any criminal or tortious act."53

The majority of Chapter 14 deals with media and government rights interfering with individuals and has a specific emphasis on video or a wiretapped phone, not oral and the intention to "broadcast". This is also the case with most of the search results I performed through Google.

If I missed something in that description I will keep looking.

In the mean time I also noted this:

Missouri recognizes the privacy tort of intrusion upon seclusion.138 To prevail on such a claim, a plaintiff must plead and prove the following elements: (1) the existence of a secret and private subject matter; (2) a right possessed by plaintiff to keep that subject matter private; and (3) the obtaining of information about that subject matter by defendant through some method objectionable to the reasonable man

In item 1 and 2 I would guess that if my manager decided to take action against my secretly recording our conversation, this is a work issue not a private issue, the only problem is 3 as to what would be defined as objectionable

 

[einsganzer]

Oh yeah

In my searches on Google a lot of results deal with employers recording employees via phone, e-mail, etc. Not the other way around. Maybe a couple of sexual harassments but not many.

 

[cbg]

You can legally be fired for recording a conversation without permission, whether the law allows it or not.

 

[Hot Topic]

You should have documentation to back up your claims of fabrication and misrepresentation. Someone in another department once claimed that I didn't have a working relationship with that department. I was able to produce two pages of single spaced text with days and dates, along with the names and addresses of the companies I sent information to per one of the managers. I could also prove via receipts that I had ordered food for them on many occasions.

Never risk doing anything that could get you fired, especially if you think that's what the company wants to do.