You wanted to know whether it is legal for state agencies to record telephone conversations between agency employees and the public for the purpose of monitoring customer service.

SUMMARY

In 2001 the attorney general issued a formal opinion concerning a proposed plan by the Department of Revenue Services (DRS) to record telephone calls between agency personnel and the public (Formal Opinion 2000-001). According to the attorney general, state agencies may legally record calls for customer service purposes if they (1) begin every call with a statement that calls may be recorded and (2) provide prior written notice to employees that the calls may be recorded and post the notice in the workplace. Provided that a state agency complies with these requirements, it may monitor calls between agency employees and the public.

After receiving the opinion, DRS decided to monitor some calls for quality assurance. When members of the public call 860-297-5962 or 1-800-382-9463 (the numbers listed on DRS's main website) and choose the option to speak with a representative, they hear “once you are connected with a representative, your call may be monitored for quality assurance.”

RECORDING PRIVATE TELEPHONE CALLS

In general, it is against state law to record a telephone call unless all parties to the call are notified. One approved method of giving notice is a “verbal notification which is recorded at the beginning and is part of the communication by the recording party” (CGS § 52-570d(a)(2)). Such statutory requirements are the basis for the familiar message that “this call may be recorded for quality assurance.” In his formal opinion, the attorney general stressed that agencies may record calls only if they “can insure that all parties to every telephone call will receive notification that the call will be recorded whether the call is incoming or outgoing.”

The DRS proposal included an automatic “this call may be recorded” message for all incoming calls, but relied upon agency personnel to deliver the warning for outgoing calls. The attorney general was concerned that due to human error personnel would fail to give the warning from time to time. If “a DRS employee [forgot] to advise someone on an outgoing call that the call may be recorded, that would constitute a violation of that person's privacy rights under the statute.” The statute requires the message to be delivered at the start of every recorded call, so to ensure compliance the agency should implement a system that automatically delivered the message at the beginning of both incoming and outgoing calls (Formal Opinion 2000-001). If it proved impractical to deliver the message during outgoing calls, the agency could stay in compliance with the statute by not recording outgoing calls.

After receiving the opinion, DRS decided to monitor some calls for quality assurance. When members of the public call 860-297-5962 or 1-800-382-9463 (the numbers listed on DRS's main website) and choose the option to speak with a representative, they hear “once you are connected with a representative, your call may be monitored for quality assurance.”

EMPLOYERS USING ELECTRONIC MEANS TO MONITOR EMPLOYEES

Except in certain limited circumstances (such as suspected theft) employers must give prior written notice before monitoring employees by electronic means. Such notice must inform employees of the types of monitoring which may occur. Employers are also required to conspicuously post a “notice concerning the types of electronic monitoring which the employer may engage in” which satisfies the “prior written notice” requirement (CGS § 31-48d(b)(1)). In the same opinion, the attorney general noted that the DRS would have to comply with this statute if it were to record calls between agency personnel and the public (Formal Opinion 2000-001).

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