Arizona Employer Uses Cameras With Microphones to Spy on Workers and Eavesdrop on Their Private Conversations: ‘0 Privacy in the Workplace’

While it’s important to be discreet when speaking in public, it’s a whole other ordeal when someone is actively listening to you in public, especially without consent. And while a business’s workplace isn’t exactly a public location, it’s more than creepy if management is going Big Brother on workers and tuning in on their private conversations. One store employee in Arizona is dealing with such a plight when they overheard their boss’s installed security camera system also has microphones.

Initially, the Arizona employee explains that the surveillance cameras were installed after a theft happened at the store. An understandable solution, for sure, but the fact that the workers weren’t informed that the cameras have microphones is downright sinister. After discovering this fact, the employee brought up the issue with HR, who brushed them off, saying that they didn’t listen to the audio and that the quality was too low anyway.

However, the worker knew something had to be done when they discovered one of the family members of the owner, who wasn’t in a management position, had been using the camera’s microphones to spy on workers’ conversations. “He openly admitted this to a coworker which makes this the most concerning and well documented case of the mics being used for eavesdropping,” the employee explained on r/legal. They go on, detailing how management has executed disciplinary actions against workers solely based on what was overheard from the camera audio.  

Unfortunately, a large majority of the post’s comments were more or less unhelpful, and saw the Arizona store employee’s situation as a joke. One user suggested blasting music in the workplace to muffle any conversations among workers. “Rick Roll your employer!” joked another commenter. Some suggested OP look for another job, which is easier said than done, undoubtedly. According to Surveillance Guides, Arizona law also forbids employers from monitoring employees without consent. Considering OP had to find out about the microphones on their own goes to show what a shady person the owner is.

Related: Furious Arizona Woman Calls Out ICE Agents for Eating in a ‘Mexican’ Restaurant, ‘Go Eat Somewhere Else You Racist, Go to Cracker Barrel’

To conclude, one commenter rightly lays it down: “You should assume 0 privacy in the workplace.”