The California law on call recording prohibits a call from being recorded without the permission of all parties on the line.

California has some of the strictest privacy laws in the United States. Some businesses neglect to do their homework, and inadvertently violate California law on call recording by recording calls without receiving permission from everyone on the line. Even if they don’t know about the law, they can still be held accountable for illegal recordings, whether the calls are inbound or outbound.

For example, if you called a customer service phone number and your call was recorded without your permission while you were in California, that company could be held accountable for violating your privacy rights.

Dermalogica Might Violate California Law on Call Recording

Skin care company Dermalogica is among the companies currently under investigation for possibly violating this important California consumer protection law.

Dermalogica offers a customer service line for customers to ask about billing, product ingredients and other issues related to Dermalogica products. If you called Dermalogica’s phone number and your call was recorded without your permission, you could be eligible for compensation.

A number of other companies have settled lawsuits for millions of dollars after they faced allegations of violating the California law on call recording. According to Consumerist, in 2017, Bank of America agreed to a $2 million settlement regarding allegations it failed to confirm consent from some of its customers prior to recording calls with bank representatives.

The civil lawsuit had said that Bank of America was unsuccessful at making a “clear, conspicuous, and accurate disclosure to consumers about the recording at the beginning of any such communication.”

The terms of the settlement were reached with district attorneys from Los Angeles, San Diego, Riverside, Alameda and Ventura counties. Bank of America paid civil penalties of $1.6 million, reimbursed prosecutors for $240,000 in investigative expenses and gave $100,000 to the Consumer Protection Prosecution Trust Fund.

In 2016, Wells Fargo had to pay $8.5 million for allegedly recording phone calls with customers in California without their permission. That lawsuit said Wells Fargo had violated California privacy laws by failing to “timely and adequately disclose its automatic recording of phone calls with members of the public.”

Even though a customer does not have to say the words, “I consent to this call being recorded,” there does have to be some notice that the call may be recorded. Even a beeping tone may be sufficient notice, since it may be recognized as an indication that a recording has begun.

In addition to Dermalogica currently being under investigation, these other companies might have violated California’s recording law:

• Swarovski
• Foster & Smith
• Mears Transportation Group
• Romano’s Macaroni Grill
• Southwest Rapid Rewards (800-445-5764 only)
• United Airlines Pet Safe (800-575-3335 only)
• Cannondale Bicycle Corporation
• Czech Airlines

The state of California can hold businesses accountable for their violations of the law. A company that violates California’s call recording law may have to pay damages of $5,000 per violation or three times the amount of real damages incurred.