In December 2014, Illinois passed the Illinois Eavesdropping Act. Under the new law, citizens can record police activity without the permission of the police officers involved. However, if one of the persons subject to the recording has a “reasonable expectation of privacy,” the person recording must obtain consent from all persons in the recording. Violating this law results in a felony charge. Issues surrounding the new eavesdropping law have received local and national news coverage.
The Illinois Eavesdropping Law is Controversial
Illinois’ eavesdropping law, still relatively new, is unclear in many courtrooms and can be interpreted in many different ways. Many legal and political experts have criticized Illinois’ eavesdropping law for leaving room for misapplication and abuse. In 2018, a 13-year-old middle schooler faced felony eavesdropping charges for recording a meeting with his principal. Eventually, the state dropped those charges. Nonetheless, critics of the law hope that the Illinois Supreme Court will ultimately strike it down for being unconstitutionally unclear.
Can I Legally Record My Employer at Work?
Many states require that only one person consents to a recording, but in Illinois, both parties must consent to a recording in most cases. Thus, an Illinois employee cannot record his or her employer at work unless the employer consents to the recording. The Illinois Eavesdropping Act requires that all parties agree to a recording when a reasonable expectation of privacy exists even if this conversation occurs in a public setting such as a restaurant or a coffee house.
If an Illinois court determines that an employer had a reasonable expectation of privacy, then an employee cannot record the employer without consent. An employee charged under the Illinois Eavesdropping Act could argue that the employer did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy. After all, many conversations in the workplace are in public settings, such as at the coffee station or water cooler, while passing each other in the hallways, or during lunch breaks.
Herein lies the problem. Many times, when an employee records a conversation with an employer, that conversation is private. They will take place in an employer’s office or at least in a non-public area. The setting of discussions about sensitive topics indicates that the employer did have a reasonable expectation of privacy. Typically, the employee does this because she/he is worried about sexual harassment, a discipline issue, losing his or her job, or facing another adverse action taken by the employer.
If You are Facing a Felony Charge in Illinois, We can Help
Our skilled Cook County criminal defense attorneys at Glasgow & Olsson understand the seriousness of Illinois’ Eavesdropping Law. Do you have questions about legally recording a particular type of conversation? Are you facing a felony eavesdropping charge? If so, we can advise you as to your legal rights. We represent clients all over Cook, Lake, Kane, McHenry, and DuPage counties. To contact our, please fill out our online form for an initial consultation.
(image courtesy of Tim Napier)