Can someone record work conversations to prove harassment?

There are many kinds of abuse and harassment that people might experience at work. Sexual harassment is one of the most common, but people can face harassment for all different types of protected characteristics, including their age, religion, health conditions and race.

The harassment someone experiences at work could affect someone’s mental health and their career. The worse the harassment is, the more likely it is to impact someone’s success in their current role and their chances of securing the best opportunities in the future. People may therefore feel eager to push back against harassment by proving what they have experienced and taking legal action if necessary.

Harassment claims are often he-said, she-said matters until someone provides authoritative evidence. Most people have a tool in their possession that could create very clear evidence of misconduct on the part of a supervisor or coworker. Can someone experiencing workplace harassment in Florida use a mobile phone to record conversations to prove what they’ve endured?

Florida law sets very strict rules about recording

The right to a reasonable expectation of privacy in certain circumstances is crucial for people to develop personal relationships and businesses. The law in Florida has rules in place that help protect the privacy of individuals despite the proliferation of technological advances that make it easier than ever before to infringe on someone’s privacy.

It is a felony offense to record a conversation without the consent of all parties involved under Florida law. Neither audio recording nor video recording is legal without the awareness and consent of all parties. Someone using their mobile phone to capture proof of workplace misconduct may inadvertently open themselves up to counterclaims made by the person harassing them or even prosecution and more serious cases.

There are, thankfully, other means of documenting the harassment someone experiences at work. Keeping a journal, printing abusive emails and securing the testimony of witnesses are always for someone to prove what kind of workplace misconduct they may have experienced. Those records can help someone convince an employer to take action or show the courts that they experienced significant mistreatment on the job.

Learning about the laws that influence the outcome of harassment claims can help workers more effectively take action.