Employer No-Recording Policies May Violate NLRA Says the Second Circuit
A 2015 NLRB decision regarding Whole Foods’ no-recording policy was upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals. The original decision held that the original policy was overbroad and violated employee communications protected under the NLRA. The policy dictated that employees must first receive permission from employers before recording conversations, phone calls, and meetings. Whole Foods argued that the provision was a general ban against workplace recording and not intended to interfere with employees’ rights to engage in collective bargaining or communicating about unions as the board initially suggested. The Second Circuit found that Whole Foods’ broad policy unlawfully prohibited recording because it did not take into account whether the communications concerned employee rights, but opened the possibility for Whole Foods to redraft the provision to place some limits on recording audio and video while still accommodating the rights of employees.
See "Employer No-Recording Policies May Violate NLRA Says the Second Circuit", Salvatore G. Gangemi, The National Law Review, June 5, 2017