Can I Make a Secret Recording at My Workplace to Prove Employment Discrimination?

Experiencing any kind of employment discrimination — whether you are applying for a job or currently in a position, or experiencing any form of retaliation — can be devastating. Discrimination can impact your confidence, can affect your ability to work and to earn a living, and can do damage to your resume or CV. It can also make you lose confidence in an employer and other co-workers or colleagues, and it can also have significant psychological and emotional effects. You may experience new anxiety and depression, or a resurgence of mental health issues. Accordingly, once you decide to take action, you will likely want to do everything you possibly can to gather the evidence you need to support your discrimination claim. You may be wondering: can I make a secret recording at my workplace to prove employment discrimination?
Our South Florida employment discrimination lawyers know how critical it is to get the evidence you need to prove your discrimination case. At the same time, we often hear from job applicants and employees who have made recordings of discriminatory behavior and want to include that material in their claim. As such, we want to be clear that making a recording of your employer or a co-worker, or even of a client or customer, may be unlawful under Florida law. The key law to know about is Florida’s wiretapping law, and our firm can explain in more detail.
Florida’s Wiretapping Law and Two-Party Consent
Each state has what is known as a “wiretapping” law, and these laws govern when a person can make a recording of a conversation. The laws do not just apply to literal wiretapping — they also apply to recordings made of zoom conversations, taping phone calls on your iPhone or Android, and even placing a recording device in a room where you are engaged in a private in-person discussion.
Under Florida’s wiretapping law, Florida is what is known as a two-party consent state. What this means is that all parties who are involved in the conversation must give consent for that conversation to be recorded. This rule applies to any conversations or dialogues in which there is some expectation of privacy, even if more than one party (or multiple parties, in fact) are included in the conversation. Accordingly, making a “secret” recording of a conversation — without the consent of all parties — is unlawful in Florida and cannot be used as evidence in an employment discrimination claim.
There is an exception, however. If a conversation is taking place in a public place, and it is a location in which none of the parties involved in the conversation could have a reasonable expectation of privacy, then it may be lawful to make a “secret” recording of the conversation.
Contact a Palm Beach Gardens Employment Discrimination Lawyer
When you are experiencing employment discrimination or retaliation in your South Florida workplace, we know that you will want to gather as much evidence as possible to support your claim. Yet as we have discussed above, making secret recordings is not a form of evidence that you will be able to use to prove discrimination in Florida. Do not worry, however: our experienced Palm Beach Gardens employment discrimination attorney at Sconzo Law Office can speak with you today to discuss a wide range of forms of evidence that you may be able to use to prove discrimination and to support your claim. When you are working to build an employment discrimination case in South Florida, our attorneys will assist you every step of the way. Contact us today for more information about how we can help you.
Source:
leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0900-0999/0934/Sections/0934.03.html