Recording a meeting at work without saying so usually isn’t gross misconduct on its own.
“EATStands for Employment Appeal Tribunal. It hears appeals from employment tribunal decisions on points of law, not on the facts. It is not a way of simply asking for a second opinion on the outcome. upheld unfair dismissalA legal claim you can bring if your employer dismissed you without a fair reason or without following a fair process. You normally need two years of continuous employment to qualify, though some dismi...; covert recording is not automatically gross misconductBehaviour serious enough that your employer is entitled to dismiss you immediately without notice. Common examples include theft, violence, or serious dishonesty, but what counts depends on your emplo....”
Secretly recording a meeting at work is generally seen as some misconduct, but it isn't automatically gross misconduct, and it won't necessarily wreck an otherwise strong unfair dismissal claim.
- If you've recorded a meeting without telling your employer, that alone doesn't automatically justify dismissal or reduce your compensation.
- What you recorded and why matters more than the fact you recorded it at all.
- Get advice before relying on a covert recording as evidence, since how it can be used isn't always straightforward.
The situation
A finance employee at a workplace charity raised a grievanceA formal complaint raised by an employee against their employer, triggering a legal obligation to investigate and respond. during a company restructure, alleging she had been treated unfairly by a senior manager. She was later called to a meeting about her conduct. Without telling her employer, she recorded the conversation. The recording only came to light later, during her subsequent employment tribunalAn independent court that hears disputes between employees and employers. It is free to bring a claim as a claimant, and most hearings take place in public. claim.
What the tribunal found
The employment tribunal found she had been unfairly dismissed, citing inadequate notice of the dismissal hearing and insufficient information about the allegations against her. On appeal, the employer argued that the covert recording amounted to gross misconduct, and should have reduced her compensation or undermined her claim.
The Employment Appeal Tribunal disagreed. It held that covert recording is not uncommon, and while it is good employment practice for either side to say if they intend to record a meeting, failing to do so will usually count as some misconduct. It just isn't automatically gross misconduct. What mattered was why she recorded the conversation, not just that she did. The tribunal also weighed how blameworthy her conduct was, and what the recording actually captured, both relevant to any just and equitable reduction under s.123 Employment Rights Act 1996The primary piece of legislation setting out employees rights in the UK, including the right not to be unfairly dismissed, the right to a written statement of employment particulars, and rights relati.... The tribunal's original findings and compensation award were upheld, and both the employer's appeal and the employee's cross-appeal were dismissed.
Phoenix House Ltd v Stockman, [2019] UKEAT 0284/17/0507, Employment Appeal Tribunal, 5 July 2019