[dehrmann]

Companies doing this have to be extremely careful. California is a two-party consent state. If an employer is found recording a personal conversation in the employee's home, they could find themselves in court with an unsympathetic jury.

[gmiller123456]

Almost every state is one or two party consent. That means you have to be a party to the conversation at the very least. I don't know any state that allows passive recording of conversations in private.

[KennyBlanken]

Many employers during the pandemic engaged in all sorts of electronic monitoring on employees with seemingly no legal repercussions. The corporate law firms of America lawyers have almost certainly devoted much time to dreaming up extensive legal arguments and language to slip into employee contracts, agreements, and 'handbooks'

When you're fired for saying something derogatory about your employer that is picked up by your company-issued computer sitting in your home office, do you have the resources to fight them in court, especially given your employer's law firm almost certainly has a cozy relationship with the judiciary in your area?

[dehrmann]

> Many employers during the pandemic engaged in all sorts of electronic monitoring on employees with seemingly no legal repercussions.

But there's a key difference. If employers want to track what time you're on the company laptop or if it's connecting from an IP address in the location you claim to be working from, that's legal. Monitoring nominally mic-off personal conversations isn't.