Call Recording Laws

This article will give you guidelines about what you'll need to consider before recording calls

Sarvesh Gokhale avatar
Written by Sarvesh Gokhale
Updated over a week ago

The call recording feature in Recruit CRM allows you to keep a track of your phone calls with candidates & contacts to make further follow-up easier and also to keep your team up-to-date.

The information below will give you guidelines about what you'll need to consider when recording calls; however, we recommend you speak with your legal team to ensure you have everything covered under the local laws/acts that apply in your country.

Some countries/states require more than one party's consent to record a call. In that case, you must make sure that everyone involved in the call has given their consent before starting to record a call. If any candidate or contact falls under this type of region, the recording feature will be automatically turned off. When you click the Record button, a dialog box will appear to remind you to obtain consent. You must inform the candidate/contact that you'll be recording this call, then click "I have taken consent" to continue recording the call.

However, Recruit CRM can't be sure where your contact is actually located when you call them, it's a good practice to get consent beforehand where there's any uncertainty or to consider making it a policy to always ask for consent.

Country-wise requirements:


United States (U.S.)

In the majority of U.S. states, you'll only need consent from one of the persons participating in a call in order to record it (this is often referred to as "one-party consent"). Since you're opting to record the call you're placing, and presumably, you consent to your own recording of the call, you won't need to do anything else to comply with the laws of those types of states.

However, approximately 13 states have chosen to require all parties' consent (sometimes called "two-party consent") in order to record the call. These states are currently California, Connecticut, Delaware*, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Vermont*, and Washington State.

For more general information on the subject, refer to Wikipedia's page on telephone recording laws on the basics of state recording laws.

*Recruit CRM has chosen to include Delaware and Vermont on this list because they're tricky cases:

Delaware has some conflicting laws about how many parties need to consent, and Vermont doesn't have specific laws on the subject but, does have some relevant court cases.

United Kingdom (U.K.)

Several laws govern the practice of recording calls in the United Kingdom (U.K.). Unless you can guarantee that the call won't be shared with any third parties and is being recorded to either gather evidence, ensure regulatory compliance, or prevent crime, it's best to think of the U.K. as an "all-parties' consent" jurisdiction.

Read more about the U.K.'s approach to call recording by referring to Wikipedia's page on telephone recording laws, Ofcom's page for the regulations, or VanillaIP's quick summary on the subject.

Ireland

Irish law is clear: to record calls, you must obtain consent, so Ireland joins the U.K. and 13 U.S. states as an "all-parties' consent" jurisdiction. Irish law makes clear that the purpose of the recording should be explained in detail, so the parties participating can give informed consent.

Read more about Ireland's approach to call recording at the end of the Data Protection Commissioner's FAQ page.

Canada

Like Ireland, Canada has established a single set of rules for call recording, built into its electronic privacy law (PIPEDA).

Joining the other countries and states mentioned above, Canada has adopted an "all-parties consent" approach: to record a call, you need to obtain informed consent by notifying others on the call (1) that you intend to record the conversation, (2) any purposes the recording will be used for, and (3) that the call may only be recorded with each person's consent.

Read more about Canada's approach to call recording by referring to the Privacy Commissioner's Guidelines for Recording Customer Calls.

Rest of the world

While this article has chosen to highlight certain countries above, it's by no means an exhaustive list. Since Recruit CRM doesn't know and can't enforce all international calling legal restrictions, Recruit CRM opts to display this consent message for all international calls except for Sweden and New Zealand. Before making a call to a new country, Recruit CRM recommends making sure that you and your legal team have an understanding of any regulations there, and always obtain consent if you're in doubt.

The countries above were chosen for informational purposes; Recruit CRM doesn't guarantee that you can use the system to call any or all of these countries. This article has provided information about the law designed to help Recruit CRM's users better understand the legal issues surrounding call recording. Legal information is not the same as legal advice, the application of the law to an individual's specific circumstances.

Recruit CRM insists that you consult a lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, is accurate. You may not rely upon this information as legal advice nor as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular legal understanding, and you should instead regard this article as intended for informational purposes only.

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