Recording conversations

[Butterfly2018]

Jurisdiction

Virginia

In VA can your manager suspend you for recording conversations at work in which you are a party? Is that not your legal right?

 

[zddoodah]

In VA can your manager suspend you for recording conversations at work in which you are a party?

Yes, it can happen. It would also be legal to do so.

Is that not your legal right?

You're confusing something not being illegal and that thing being a "right."

It is true that Virginia is a so-called "one party" state, which means that any party to a in-person or phone conversation may legally record the conversation without the consent of the other person(s) involved. In so-called "two party" states, it is a crime to record such conversations without the consent of all persons involved.

However, just because what you did isn't a crime doesn't mean you have a legal "right" to do it. More importantly, just because what you did isn't a crime doesn't mean your employer may not legally discipline you. For example, it's not a crime to curse people out, but you can be darn sure that most employers will suspend or fire employees who curse out customers or vendors over the phone. You don't think you have a "right" to do that just because it's not a crime, do you?

 

[mightymoose]

I agree with the above.
You may be lucky it was only a suspension.

I can imagine what likely happened. If you want to record something it is best to not wave it in the other persons face. That just leads to arguments and anger. Be more discreet and nobody will ever know the difference and you won't be suspended.

 

[adjusterjack]

In VA can your manager suspend you for recording conversations at work in which you are a party?

Yes. What hasn't been touched on here is called "employment at will." That means you can be fired for any reason or no reason as long as it doesn't involve violations of any employee protection laws.

While it is legal to tape a conversation to which you are a party it is not a protected activity under any employment laws.

By the way, if you have been suspended without pay, file for unemployment.

 

[Butterfly2018]

Is every written request to HR considered a FOIA? What is and what isn't? Would minutes of an internal meeting fall under FOIA?

 

[adjusterjack]

FOIA has nothing to do with employment records.

Read the law for yourself at:

http://foiacouncil.dls.virginia.gov/2016law.pdf

However, if you work for a government agency you may have rights to review your personnel records under Va. Code 2.2-3705.1 and Va. Code 2.2-3705.5.

In the private sector your access likely depends on the employer's policy as I haven't come up with any statutes mandating anything about employee access.

 

[cbg]

Is every written request to HR considered a FOIA? What is and what isn't? Would minutes of an internal meeting fall under FOIA?

No. All aren't, none are. No.

The answers MIGHT be slightly different if and only if you work for the government. If you work for the private sector, there is no such thing as FOIA when it comes to your employment records.

 

[zddoodah]

Is every written request to HR considered a FOIA?

This sentence makes little grammatical sense. "FOIA" is an acronym that stands for Freedom of Information Act. It is a federal law and allows for the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government. Sometimes "FOIA" refers to similar state laws. Asking whether a "written request to [the] HR" department of an employer is "considered a FOIA" makes no sense at all.