ABA Family Legal Guide

Law and the Workplace

On the Job

Privacy in the Workplace

Can employers listen to employee telephone calls?

The Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act prohibits employers from eavesdropping on, or wiretapping, telephone calls. There is a large exception allowing employers to listen in on an extension telephone used in the ordinary course of business. A second big exception allows employers to monitor telephone calls where employees have been notified expressly that their telephone conversations will be monitored. Some courts have indicated, however, that once the private nature of a telephone conversation is determined, any continued eavesdropping would not be in the ordinary course of business and may subject the employer to liability. An employer violating the law can be sued for money damages.

Some states have enacted laws that place more restrictions on telephone monitoring--for example, requiring the consent of all parties to the conversation or requiring that employees be notified that their calls may be monitored.