recording a corrective action meeting

FC

I have an employee who recorded her corrective action meeting with her supervisor and manager without their knowledge.

I know in Texas only one person has to have knowledge that the conversation is being recorded.

She has filed a complaint of hostile work environment and harassment which is being investigated. The Management team is aware of her complaint. I'm sure she will request that I listen to the tape. Should I ask for an unedited copy of the recording?

Theresa Gegen TX

Yes I would ask her for it. In most cases, the employees don't reveal their tapes until suit, which can be very damaging.

I would ask her for a complete copy. The method I would use to get a complete copy is to have her drop the tape off with an outside service (like a court reporter) that can make the copy. The company pays for the copy! That way, if something happens to the tape, she will not be able to say that you destroyed it. (I actually had an employee accuse my client of erasing parts of the tapes that she made to cover their wrong doing. for that reason, I would not take custody of the original.). If it is an outside service, which has no stake in the matter, you can be sure that you will get a complete copy and that the employee will not be able to accuse you of monkey business.

My experience is that usually there is damaging to the company on the tapes, but you need to know now if something improper happened.

Good Luck!

FC

Thanks very much for the quick reply. This one is not going away easily.