Privacy Considerations for Recording Employee Meetings
In general, meetings should not be recorded. Meetings should be recorded only in exceptional circumstances and after approval is obtained from the department head. Exceptional circumstances are rare, such as a recording accommodation authorized by Disability Management Services or for training program purposes. This also applies to transcriptions where the meeting transcriptions are recorded and saved after the conclusion of the meeting. Always consider whether it is necessary to record the meeting and maintain the record.
Keep in mind that employee meeting recordings become a University record and may be subject to disclosure upon request (e.g., in response to a request under the California Public Records Act or California’s Information Practices Act). Meeting recordings saved on a local computer or in the cloud should be removed after there is no longer a need to keep the record, or until required by the UC records retention schedule.
Notice/consent. Hosts need to obtain permission to capture and save recordings of meetings. In advance of any meeting that will be recorded, hosts should inform speakers and attendees that the meeting will be recorded, and how the recording is intended to be used and shared. Attendees should be offered the opportunity to mute their audio and turn off their video during the meeting if they object to the recording of their image or voice. If none of the above is offered to attendees in advance, attendees should contact the host and/or object at the time they become aware the meeting is being recorded.
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