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An Employment Appeals Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that staff covertly recording conversations spoken during meetings at work may not always be considered as gross misconduct. In fact, the tribunal stated that it is acceptable in specific cases when, for example, an employee may be concerned about misrepresentation.

In this case, Tatiana Stockman, former employee of Phoenix House charity, believed she was unfairly dismissed following an irreconcilable disagreement with her manager. During the tribunal, Stockman admitted to recording private meetings at work. In response, Phoenix House’s legal team argued that recording workplace meetings without consent was ten demount to gross misconduct inferring that Stockman’s claim for unfair dismissal should be thrown out.  

Instead, the EAT sided with Stockman and upheld the tribunal’s ruling on the grounds that Stockman’s motivations for recording the meeting were understandable and needed to be taken into account.

This case sets an interesting precedent for staff and managers everywhere. With most people owning smart phones with recording features, there can be no doubt similar cases will continue to arise.