Recording Conversations in PA

Mike

Can anyone tell me what the state law is in PA regarding an employee tape recording conversations with another employee without the 2nd employee's consent or knowledge?

Mike

In case anyone is interested, I have found out that PA is one of the twelve states the require the consent of all parties involved in a conversation to have the conversation taped. These states, which include CA, CT, FL, IL, MD, MA, MI, MT, NE, NH, and WA as well as PA, are known as "two-party consent" states; however, be aware that all parties must consent to the taping of conversations that involve more than two people -- you can't just have two people consent to a taping in these states to make in legal in multi-people conversations.

PAhr

This is a very tricky issue. What you have cited applies to conversations over a telephone. They don't necessarily apply to conversations taped in say a break room. One reason is that there is no expectation of privacy in a public area, we as employers can audio and video tape all work areas without the employees consent and judges are being more willing to allow these tapes if they were made as a way to prove sexual harassment or discrimination that could otherwise not be proven. This is a good reason to always assume that there is recorder going when you are speaking to employees.