Thoughts, Opinions, Ideas and direction on this!

D.McC

Firstly, I am not seeking any sort of legal advice on this, but if anyone could throw some light on it, or offer a reference or source to follow up on that would be great.

Backgroud - during a phone call to head office between A and B regarding some work issues the conversation became a little tense, not argumentative or rude or ill-mannered, just tense.

Since this call, B has lodged a complaint, the basis of which, is the attitude, behaviour and the manner of A.

They are backing this complaint up with the evidence of a third party that it is alleged overheard this conversation, only because B had put the call on speakerphone without informing A.

There is also a question surrounding whether or not the third person was actually in the same room as B during the time the call was made.

And just to complicate matters further, the third party and person B are related.

My opinion - an element / expectation of privacy exists between the two parties to the phone call and if a third party was required to listen in, then at least one party (person A) should have been informed.

Or, owning to the conversation matter, person A should have been asked if they minded been put on speaker phone.

I open the floor to you guys -

McCrack

So long as one party is aware that the conversation is being listened to/recorded is sufficient. There is no obligation to tell the other party that the conversation is being listened to/recorded.

Hogzy

I think it would depend on the environment the conversation was made. For example a work colleague or a superior may owe a duty of complete confidentiality between you and them.

However in a private matter there probably wouldnt be any duty of confidentiality (Say you were talking to your friend Ben about your girlfriend Mary, it turns out Ben had the speaker phone on and Mary was listening to Ben)

If you were saying a bad thing about Mary on the phone though and this was defamatory, In a legal sense you would more than likely have the defense of privilege as you believed you were speaking one to one.
Depends on the facts though.

D.McC

Surly, both parties involved in the phone call had an expectation of privacy, if it was necessary for a third party to ‘listen in’ on the conversation then the other party to the call should have been made aware – and there is still no proof, other than the word of one party that the third party actually heard the conversation.

PCPhoto

are phone calls recorded for training purposes - if so - listening to the phone conversation would assist in figuring out if there was any merit in the "complaint"

it could be "A" said something to "B" ....knowing it would provoke a reaction ...then put him on speaker so that "C" could overhear the resulting reaction.

D.McC

No, incoming and outgoing calls are not recorded. :eek:

Even if they were recorded for training purposes, the recordings could only be used for that purpose.

D.McC

PCPhoto wrote: »

are phone calls recorded for training purposes - if so - listening to the phone conversation would assist in figuring out if there was any merit in the "complaint"

it could be "A" said something to "B" ....knowing it would provoke a reaction ...then put him on speaker so that "C" could overhear the resulting reaction.

I have asked B, and this is a common occurrence, something that B is only too aware off. B also assumed that the calls were been recorded and for that reason was always careful not to rise to the bait.