Today’s high quality video, audio, and still photography applications for smart phones, tablets, and even wearable technology, allow users to easily capture pictures and sounds as never before. As a result, to avoid the potential disruption and chilling effect that unauthorized recordings can create in the workplace, many employers have implemented policies that prohibit employees from recording workplace conversations without express prior approval from management.
Despite the common sense logic of such policies, however, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the quasi-judicial agency that enforces federal labor-management law, ruled recently that work rules prohibiting recording in the workplace without prior management approval violate the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).
The ruling by the Board in Whole Foods Market, Inc., 363 NLRB No. 87 (2015), is simply the latest in a line of cases decided by the current NLRB to expand the scope of the NLRA from traditional labor law issues to other areas including FLSA collective action lawsuits, mandatory arbitration agreements, employee off-work social media use, and employer work rules.
A copy of the Whole Foods Market decision is available here.