When Can An Employer Record Conversations With Its Employee?

The Danish Data Protection Agency recently severely criticised an employer that violated the law when it recorded multiple conversations with an employee without informing the employee.

Audio recordings of conversations between an employee and an employer may, depending on the circumstances and subject to various conditions, be lawful if they are made as part of securing evidence of specific facts that are necessary to protect the employer's interests. This has previously been established in Supreme Court case law.

In this case before the Data Protection Agency, the question was whether an employer that had recorded several conversations with an employee had a legitimate interest in doing so and whether the employer should have informed the employee that the conversations were being recorded.