99 Cents Only Stores Suspected of Violating Business Call Recording Laws

Whether or not you live in a two-party consent state–that to date includes California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Washington—you may have heard a recorded warning on a voice mail when calling in on a customer service support line.

The warning—reflective of business call recording laws—usually let the caller know that ‘the call may be recorded for quality-control purposes’.

If when hearing this warning, a customer decides to wait on hold for a live customer service representative, that customer is offering the company a loophole in business call recording laws by giving implied consent.

Implied consent means that the failure to terminate the call after hearing the warning constitutes that they are aware of and agree to be recorded.

While business call recording laws seem rather straightforward to comply with in this manner or by the customer service representative directly asking, a handful of companies are suspected of failing to do so. These purported companies are:

• 99 Cents Only Stores
• American Airlines—Lost Baggage, Cancelled Flight, and Emergency Numbers
• AMF Bowling
• British Airways
• Czech Airways
• Fisher and Paykel
• Malaysia Airlines
• Miele
• Pei Wei Asian Diner
• TGI Friday’s

Violations of business call recording laws in California could leave a company facing civil penalties of at least $5,000 per incident or up to three times the amount of damages suffered if the plaintiff is able to demonstrate adequate evidence of same.

The California Invasion of Privacy Act

The business call recording laws at issue are known as the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA), which is penal code § 630-632 specifically.

This statute which was passed in 1967 follows a long-standing tradition in the California legislature in making efforts to protect citizens from individual and corporate invasion.

The CIPA has evolved as technology has evolved over the years making it more challenging to protect citizen’s privacy. New technology which has allowed for eavesdropping on interactions where there is an expectation of privacy such as over a telephone or behind closed doors have provided new challenges to this act.

According to the law, it is not only illegal to record cellular or landline calls without the consent of all participants, it is also illegal to use equipment that will ‘wiretap’ or ‘monitor’ communications by means of amplification.

This could easily be interpreted to mean bugging a telephone line or room. CIPA does not consider accidentally overhearing a confidential communication which was thought to be private a violation.

Join a FREE California Call Recording Class Action Lawsuit Investigation

If you live in California and you did not receive a warning when calling a toll-free number, your call may have been recorded in violation of California law, and you may be entitled to compensation. See if you qualify to file a California call recording class action lawsuit.

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