Mitigate Risk by Providing Call Monitoring Disclosure on All Calls

It is now highly recommended that a call monitoring disclosure be provided on all inbound and outbound calls that may be monitored or recorded.

Please Be Informed That:  Individuals are pursuing legal action in instances where they have an area code from a “one party” consent state, but claim to now live in a “two party” consent state. These individuals are arguing that failing to disclose the call is recorded violated state statute in the “two party” consent state.

Background: In accordance with the Federal Wiretap Act, companies must ensure that at least one individual participating on a call is made aware of any recording or monitoring of the call taking place. This level of consent is commonly referred to as “one-party” consent, and as the name suggests, requires at least one party on the telephone call be made aware the call is being monitored or recorded.

This will likely come as no surprise to our clients, but there are states that have more restrictive requirements; fifteen (15) states have call monitoring regulations referred to as “two-party” or “all-party,” that mandate at least two or all individuals on a recorded or monitored line be made aware. As a reminder, if an individual continues with a conversation after an agent has provided a call monitoring disclosure through a statement such as, “…this call is recorded and monitored for quality assurance purposes,” implied consent can be assumed.

Why it’s important: CompliancePoint has been informed of several cases of individuals with telephone numbers indicating residency in “one-party” consent states threating and/or pursuing legal action for violations of these more restrictive state requirements, claiming they now live in states with “two-party” or “all-party” consent requirements. We understand many of our clients rely on an area code to determine state regulation applicability, and in order to mitigate risk, we now recommend a call monitoring disclosure be provided on all inbound and outbound calls. In recent years, failing to disclose that a call is recorded, specifically in California, has led to hefty settlements.

CompliancePoint has always recommended this as a best practice to mitigate risk. If you have any questions or concerns about our new recommendation for call monitoring disclosures, contact one of our experts here at CompliancePoint.