Secret recordings of oral or electronic conversations may violate state or federal wiretapping laws

Nonprofit and Church Legal Trends - Free Edition - November December 2007 (free edition)

Many church and nonprofit leaders have wondered whether they can secretly record a private conversation such as:

1. A pastor secretly records counseling sessions;
2. A nonprofit employee records a telephone interview with an applicant for employment;
3. A church employee records telephone calls with references listed on application forms submitted by applicants for volunteer work involving minors;
4. A pastor records a conversation he has with a church employee who is suspected of embezzling church funds;
5. A church member secretly records meetings and then uses parts of the pas-tor’s conversations to try to later fire him; and
6. A church administrator secretly records a conversation where the employee confesses to sexual wrongdoing with a minor.