Hidden Camera Laws - Are You Breaking The Law?

With the size of cameras declining so that they can be effectively hidden almost anywhere, it is not surprising that many businesses and even private individuals use them to have some form of surveillance of their premises. On the other hand, cameras have also been used for the shameless purposes of spying on other people, such as neighbors, spouses, or in-home employees. Recently there has been an outcry against such behavior, and if you find yourself on the spying end, you may also find yourself on the receiving end of a summons for a lawsuit. We think it is therefore worthwhile to summarise the law as it stands now. 

If you are a business, you are free to have cameras on your premises with the exception of areas where customers and employees can reasonable expect physical privacy. Such areas include restrooms, changing rooms, showers, locker rooms, and bedrooms. Employees furthermore may expect privacy in areas such as the employee lounge, the smoking room, the break room, or any other place away from the areas of business where they may congregate to eat lunch, take their breaks, and await the beginning of their shifts.

If you are an employer of union-represented personnel, you will need to ensure that your current union contract permits the installation of hidden cameras. While this usually is not a problem, you will run into difficulties if you seek to dismiss employees who have been caught on camera doing things they are not permitted to do, if you catch them doing so in an area where they could have felt reasonably safe from hidden camera surveillance.

If you are a private individual and would like to listen in on your nanny or just check up on your pool guy, it is important to realize that if you reside in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Utah you will be in violation of the law if you install a camera in a private place. Since your home will have numerous private places, you may find that a nanny or the pool boy may sue you for unauthorized surveillance if they can claim that they were in a location within your home that should have been considered private and therefore off limits.

If you are an installer of small hidden cameras, you will need to understand that in the states of Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Utah you will be held personally liable if you enter a private residence to install a small hidden camera if you do not have the express consent of all parties who reside there. Thus, if you make your bread and butter as someone who works for parties to a divorce action and you are thinking of installing hidden cameras to prove infidelities, it may be wise to think again.

Please note that these injunctions do not simply pertain to the installation of cameras, but also the installation of sound recording devices.

Sometimes the states not aforementioned will require you to show good evidence that you were recording via a hidden camera for purposes other than seeing a person in the state of partial or complete undress. If you have a camera installed in your bathroom at home to supervise your plumber as he completes the repair on your bathroom, you may very likely get sued since he can reasonably be expected to use the bathroom facilities at some point during his work day, and a hidden camera will catch him in a state of partial undress in a room that should be expected to be private.

If you are still insistent on placing a small hidden camera on your property somewhere, it is wise to consult with a seasoned private investigator, who should be well versed in the dos and don’ts of hidden camera surveillance. Similarly, an attorney will be able to answer your questions. We advise you to make sure you are fully informed before installing any equipment.