Laws on recording calls
A brief overview of U.S. state and federal laws
One or two party consent
In the U.S. the individual states have different laws concerning telephone recording. These fall into two categories:
Two party notification, and One party notification. Two party notification means both parties being recorded in a
conversation must consent. One party notification only requires one of the parties being recorded to consent. Consent
is usually granted by an notification recording at the beginning of the call, or with a audible beep tone. The recent
California Supreme Court decision in Kearney v. Salomon Smith Barney, Inc., S124739 (July 13, 2006) showed that
in a call from a One party consent state to a Two party consent state the Two party law takes precedence.
Which states have two party consent laws?
States with two party consent laws are California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana,
Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Washington. All other states have one party consent laws, but even if your company
resides in a one party consent states, if it might make calls to two party consent states it should either provide notification to both
parties or not record these calls.
What is needed to get "consent?"
The FCC defines the methods that can be used to obtain consent as:
- Verbal or written consent is given before the recording is made.
- Verbal notification before the recording is made. (This is the most commonly used option and is usually a message informing the called that the call "may be recorded or monitored.")
- An audible beep tone repeated at regular intervals during the course of the call. This beep can be easily created by Versadial telephone recorders on analog lines, or for digital lines a beep tone generator can connected to the line to accomplish this.
Telephone recording in businesses
Federal law requires the notification of at least one party in a call (18 U.S.C. Sec. 2511(2)(d)). However there is a "business telephone" exception that allows employers to record calls on phones they provide to employees. There are many benefits of recording calls for the employer as well as the employees being recorded. Though not required, it is considered good business etiquette to inform employees their calls will be recorded. Software like VS Logger make it easy for employees to be able to listen to only their own recordings. This helps remove fears and can create a positive, empowered feeling with employees as they can; hear how they sound on a call, review important call details to ensure accurate data-entry, or even use past recordings to prove that they acted appropriately and were not at fault in a customer dispute.
Using recordings as legal evidence
One of the top uses of telephone recorders in business is to deter or protect against lawsuits.
To do this the consent laws must be observed particular to the state called from and called to.
Due to interpretation and exceptions particular to individual states the safest course of action is
to get consent from both parties by giving verbal notification at the beginning of the call or having
an audible beep tone.
References
The FCC on phone recordingRCFP information on recording