FOAK: Recording Conversations

Someone being bullied at work & keeping a record of events/conversations.
Thought it might be a good idea to record some of these conversations as
this would remove the 'it's your word against her's' defence as it were.
Don't want to chuck out lots of dosh on James Bond type kit, so was
wondering, could they use a dictaphone? (no, use your finger like everyone
else (apologies, just couldn't resist it)). There must be plenty out there
in UKRM land who have done lots of furtive, sneaky type stuff like secretly
recording conversations.

 

£200 for a 20 gig iriver i-HP mp3 player. Has a built in mic and the
battery and storage will let it record for the entire working day. To
boot she gets an mp3 player and portable harddrive out of it, plus it
wouldnt look out of place.

Set it recording at the start of the day and you're set. If theres a mic
for a computer on the desk top then you could plug this in without
looking suspicious. Although it would record fine just inside a pocket.

 

Martin Watts wrote

I reckon that recording conversations and shit like that is always
fraught with potential claims for entrapment and shit, with the
potential for horribly backfiring. Good for a giggle though.

I think you will find that ukrm tend to be more the one way mirrors and
a battery of video equipment type of pervert.

 

I always thought it wasn't strictly legal to record conversations without
informing those being recorded.

OTOH, I know nothing for certain.

 

dwb emerged from their own little world to say

"Good morning, sir. I'm a policeman and I'm wearing a wire. You don't mind
if we record this transaction, do you? Good......Thankyou for your
cooperation."

 

Wrong, wrong, wrong. If an individual feels he/she is being bullied
they must go to HR or a manager and issue a formal complaint. If you
go outside the procedure you aren't helping yourself - it's HR's job
to investigate, not the individual's. If it goes to court the
recording will be thrown out, and then it's word against word.

Legally, it's not the bullying that's the killer - it's retaliation
after a complaint has already been made that will put both the bully
and the company into a world of shit.

Even if the recording shows person A calling person B a twat and
threatening to kick **** out of them, that's not as serious because
everyone has a hard stressful day once in a while and can be given
leeway for losing it- it's the repetition that proves the bullying.

Repetition - defines the harrassment
Retaliation - gets the big payouts.....

JC - wrote his company's bullying and harrassment policy.

 

Yes that'd do fine, preferably voice activated with a micro-lapel
mike. For telephone conversations there's a lick-n-stick suction
pad microphone designed specifically for the job that only costs
around 3 quid in electronics stores. Better still would be a
hidden video camera. Camcorders fit nicely into box files with a
lens hole cut out. Wireless mini cams can be bought sub-30 pounds
and connected to a video recorder in another room.

riccip

 

What JC states in his post is pretty much spot on. The important point
is it must be raised within the company's grievance procedure if it is
bullying; through the company's Discrimination or Harassment procedure if
it is discrimination.

Whatever it is, it *has* to be placed in the company machinery [1]; which
must be fully exhausted before any legal proceedings can be taken.

The form of bullying or harassment determines the type of legal
proceeding.

Direct discrimination is pretty straight forward; indirect is a little
more tricky and bullying can be even harder.


[1] As of October 2004 all companies, regardless of size, *must* have
minimum disciplinary and grievance procedures in place:
http://www.acas.org.uk/publications/G02.html

 

I have a £ 12 cassette recorder with a microphone lead that plugs directly
to a BT line
the cassette only records when the phone is in use however this would
probably not
work on a company phone system, and your limited to the 45 mins or however
long the tape is

I also bought a bug for about £ 15 that half the size of a 9V battery that
plugs directly onto same, and transmits in FM and can be monitored
from a standard radio

have a google, these things are around, I've even seen one disguised as a
calculator you leave on the desk in full view
--
Vass (not paraniod honest!)
................................................
Now: YZF-R1, CBR1100xx-x
Then: A100, MBX80, XL125, CB400, FZR600, CBR600Fv
http://www.naldernet.plus.com/index2.html

 

Assuming there's a PC handily nearby all you need to do is plug in a
mic and run the free app scanrec[1] which is will record a .wav. It's
voice activated, so only records when someone's speaking.

[1] http://www.davee.com/scanrec/