South Dakota Workplace Recording Laws

South Dakota is a one-party consent state under SDCL 23A-35A-20, so employees may record any workplace conversation they participate in without notifying coworkers or supervisors. Employers may enforce no-recording policies through discipline, but recording a conversation you join is not a crime under South Dakota law.

Under South Dakota's one-party consent law, it is not a crime for employees to record workplace conversations they participate in. Under SDCL 23A-35A-20, you can record meetings with your boss, conversations with HR, interactions with coworkers, and any other workplace discussion you are part of, all without telling anyone you are recording.

At the same time, employers have their own rights to use video surveillance in common areas, and they can adopt internal policies restricting employee recording. This guide explains how South Dakota's recording laws apply in the workplace, what both employees and employers can and cannot do, and how the federal National Labor Relations Act interacts with state law.

Employee Recording Rights in South Dakota

Recording Workplace Conversations

As a one-party consent state, South Dakota allows you to record any conversation you are part of without notifying or getting permission from the other participants. In the workplace, this means you can legally record:

• Meetings with your supervisor about performance, assignments, or expectations
• HR conversations including disciplinary meetings, grievance discussions, and exit interviews
• Conversations with coworkers about workplace conditions, safety concerns, or disputes
• Phone calls with clients, vendors, or other business contacts that you participate in
• Performance reviews and feedback sessions
• Training sessions that you attend

You can use a smartphone, a dedicated voice recorder, or any other recording device. The statute does not restrict the type of device used.

What You Cannot Record at Work

One-party consent has limits. You cannot:

• Record conversations you are not part of. Planting a recorder in a conference room and leaving to capture a meeting you are not attending is illegal wiretapping under SDCL 23A-35A-20.
• Install hidden cameras in private areas. SDCL 22-21-1 bars installing a surveillance device in a private place without the consent of the people entitled to privacy there. Whether a shared restroom or locker room counts as a private place depends on the facts, and SDCL 22-21-4 separately makes it a crime anywhere to record someone undressed without consent and with intent to self-gratify or to alarm, annoy, embarrass, harass, invade the privacy of, threaten, or cause emotional, financial, physical, psychological, or reputational harm to that person.
• Intercept other people's calls or get into their accounts. Intercepting a coworker's phone calls without a participant's consent can be a Class 5 felony under SDCL 23A-35A-20. Getting into a coworker's email or accounts without permission can violate South Dakota's computer-crime law (SDCL 43-43B-1) and the federal Stored Communications Act.

Documenting Workplace Issues

Recording can be a valuable tool for documenting workplace problems. Common reasons employees record at work include:

• Harassment. Recording verbal harassment from a supervisor or coworker creates contemporaneous evidence that is difficult to dispute.
• Discrimination. Capturing discriminatory statements during meetings or conversations provides direct proof of discriminatory intent.
• Retaliation. Recording interactions after filing a complaint can help demonstrate a pattern of retaliatory conduct.
• Unsafe working conditions. Documenting safety violations through audio or video can support complaints to OSHA or state regulators.
• Wage disputes. Recording conversations about pay, hours, or benefits can preserve evidence of verbal agreements.

Employer Surveillance in South Dakota

Video Surveillance in the Workplace

South Dakota does not have a specific statute governing employer video surveillance. However, SDCL 22-21-1 applies to surveillance devices installed in a private place without the consent of the people entitled to privacy there, including those installed by employers. The general rules are:

Cameras are permitted in:

• Sales floors and retail areas
• Warehouses and loading docks
• Parking lots and garages
• Lobbies and reception areas
• Shared office spaces
• Hallways and stairwells
• Cash register areas

Cameras should not be placed in:

• Bathrooms and restrooms
• Locker rooms and changing areas
• Private break rooms
• Nursing and lactation rooms
• Any area where employees have a reasonable expectation of complete privacy

SDCL 22-21-1 makes it a Class 1 misdemeanor (up to 1 year in jail and a $2,000 fine) to install a camera or recorder in a private place without the consent of the people entitled to privacy there. South Dakota defines a private place as one where a person can reasonably expect to be safe from intrusion or surveillance, but the definition excludes places the public or a substantial group can enter, so whether it covers a shared restroom or locker room depends on the facts. Recording anyone undressed, or under or through their clothing, without consent and with intent to self-gratify or to alarm, annoy, embarrass, harass, invade the privacy of, threaten, or cause emotional, financial, physical, psychological, or reputational harm to that person is separately a crime under SDCL 22-21-4 wherever it happens.

Audio Surveillance by Employers

Audio recording by employers carries additional legal risk. If the employer (or its representative) is not a party to the conversation being recorded, capturing audio could violate SDCL 23A-35A-20, a Class 5 felony. Employers who install audio recording devices in common areas must ensure that at least one party to any recorded conversation has consented.

Many employers avoid audio recording entirely because of the heightened legal exposure compared to video-only surveillance.

Employer Notice Requirements

South Dakota does not have a statute requiring employers to notify employees about workplace surveillance. However, providing notice is considered a best practice for several reasons:

• It reduces the risk of invasion of privacy claims
• It reduces employees' expectation of privacy in monitored open work areas (it does not supply the consent needed for cameras in private places or for audio of conversations)
• It promotes transparency and trust in the workplace
• Some federal contracts and industry regulations may require disclosure

Employer No-Recording Policies

Can Your Employer Prohibit Recording?

Yes, but with limitations. South Dakota employers can adopt internal policies that prohibit or restrict employee recording in the workplace. These policies are enforceable as a matter of company discipline. If you violate a no-recording policy, your employer can:

• Issue a verbal or written warning
• Impose disciplinary action
• Suspend you
• Terminate your employment

However, violating a company no-recording policy is not a crime under South Dakota law. The recording itself remains legal under SDCL 23A-35A-20 as long as you are a party to the conversation.

NLRA Protections for Employee Recording

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) provides important protections that can override employer no-recording policies in certain circumstances. Under the NLRA, employees have the right to engage in "protected concerted activity," which includes discussing wages, working conditions, and safety concerns with coworkers.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has found that blanket no-recording policies can violate Section 7 of the NLRA because they chill employees' exercise of protected rights. The Board's standard for judging workplace rules is Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (August 2, 2023), under which a rule that would reasonably tend to chill employees' Section 7 activity is presumptively unlawful, and the employer can rebut that presumption only by proving the rule advances a legitimate and substantial business interest that a more narrowly tailored rule could not serve. Stericycle remains the Board's standard, though the current Board has signaled it may revisit it.

In February 2025, the NLRB's Acting General Counsel issued GC 25-05, which rescinded a series of earlier General Counsel memos, including GC 23-02 on electronic workplace monitoring. A General Counsel memo does not overrule Board decisions. In a June 25, 2025 memo (GC 25-07), the Acting General Counsel told regional offices to treat secretly recording collective-bargaining sessions as an unfair labor practice. That is enforcement guidance rather than a Board ruling, but it means you should not secretly record bargaining sessions.

The NLRA covers only employees of private employers. It does not protect supervisors, independent contractors, agricultural or domestic workers, or government employees.

Recording may be protected under the NLRA when:

• You are documenting unsafe working conditions to share with coworkers or regulators
• You are gathering evidence of wage theft or labor law violations
• You are recording discussions with coworkers about unionization (not bargaining sessions, which GC 25-07 treats differently)
• You are preserving evidence of unfair labor practices

If a recording is protected concerted activity, disciplining an employee for it can be an unfair labor practice even when a company policy bans recording. Whether a particular recording is protected depends on the facts.

Whistleblower Protections

South Dakota's whistleblower protections and federal whistleblower statutes may also protect employees who record evidence of illegal activity. Employees who record conversations documenting fraud, safety violations, or other unlawful conduct may be shielded from retaliation under applicable whistleblower laws.

Specific Workplace Recording Scenarios

Can I Record a Meeting With HR?

Yes. Under South Dakota's one-party consent law, you can record any meeting you attend, including HR meetings. This is particularly common during:

• Disciplinary proceedings
• Termination meetings
• Grievance hearings
• Accommodation request discussions
• Return-to-work meetings after leave

HR may have a policy against recording, but the recording itself is legal. Consider whether the value of having a recording outweighs the risk of disciplinary action for violating company policy.

Can I Record a Coworker Who Is Harassing Me?

Yes. If you are the target of verbal harassment and you are present during the harassing conduct, you can record it. This type of evidence can be powerful in:

• Internal complaints to HR or management
• EEOC discrimination and harassment complaints
• State human rights commission proceedings
• Civil lawsuits for hostile work environment

Can My Employer Record Me Without Telling Me?

An employer can conduct video-only surveillance in common areas without specifically notifying individual employees, though posting signage is recommended. For audio recording, the employer or its representative must be a party to the conversation, or have a participant's consent, to satisfy one-party consent. An employer cannot install a hidden audio recorder to capture employee conversations that no management representative participates in.

Can I Record a Phone Call With a Client?

Yes, as long as you are a participant in the call. Be aware that if the client is in a two-party consent state, that state's law may apply. Courts decide which state's law governs a multistate call case by case: some have applied the law of the place where the call was recorded, while California's Supreme Court has applied California law to calls recorded out of state with California residents. Our recording consent checker can show you each state's rule before the call. The safe practice is to announce the recording at the start and get each person's agreement; a notice alone is not settled as consent.

Using Workplace Recordings as Evidence

Employment Disputes

Recordings made lawfully under South Dakota's one-party consent law are generally admissible in:

• Employment discrimination cases
• Sexual harassment claims
• Wrongful termination lawsuits
• Wage and hour disputes
• Workers' compensation hearings
• Unemployment benefit appeals

Courts will evaluate the recording's authenticity and relevance, and a court can exclude a relevant recording only if its value as evidence is substantially outweighed by the risk of unfair prejudice, confusion, or wasted time (SDCL 19-19-403).

Administrative Proceedings

Recordings can also be submitted as evidence in:

• EEOC complaints and investigations
• OSHA complaints about workplace safety
• South Dakota Department of Labor proceedings
• Unemployment insurance hearings

Best Practices for Workplace Recordings

1. Keep the original file unedited. Never alter, splice, or selectively edit a workplace recording.
2. Note the date, time, location, and participants as soon as possible after recording.
3. Store recordings securely on a personal device or personal cloud storage, not on employer-owned equipment.
4. Do not share recordings publicly before consulting with an attorney.
5. Back up recordings immediately to prevent accidental loss.

Remote Work and Recording

With more South Dakota employees working remotely, recording rules for virtual meetings have become increasingly relevant. The same one-party consent rules apply:

• You can record Zoom, Teams, or Google Meet calls you participate in
• If other participants are in all-party consent states, their state's law may apply; which state's law governs a multistate call is not settled, so following the stricter rule is the safe practice
• Employer policies about recording virtual meetings should be reviewed
• Built-in recording notices in Zoom, Teams, and Meet tell participants a recording has started, but no court has settled that a notice alone counts as consent in all-party consent states such as California, so announce the recording at the start and get each person's agreement

More South Dakota Recording Laws

Audio Recording | Video Recording | Voyeurism & Hidden Cameras | Workplace Recording | Recording Police | Phone Call Recording | Security Cameras | Recording in Public | Landlord-Tenant | Dashcam Laws | Schools | Medical Recording

Back to South Dakota Recording Laws

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Frequently Asked Questions

Can I record my boss in South Dakota?

Yes. South Dakota is a one-party consent state under SDCL 23A-35A-20. You can record any conversation you participate in at work, including meetings with your supervisor, without their knowledge or permission. However, your employer may have a no-recording policy that could result in disciplinary action.

Can my employer record me at work in South Dakota?

Your employer can use video cameras in common work areas like sales floors and hallways. Cameras in bathrooms, locker rooms, or changing areas can violate SDCL 22-21-1 or SDCL 22-21-4. Audio recording by employers requires one-party consent, meaning the employer or a representative must be a participant in the recorded conversation or have a participant's consent.

Can I be fired for recording at work in South Dakota?

While the recording itself is legal under South Dakota law, your employer can fire you for violating a company no-recording policy. However, if you are a non-supervisory employee of a private employer and your recording is part of protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act (such as documenting unsafe conditions or wage violations with coworkers), terminating you for recording could be an unfair labor practice, depending on the facts.

Can I use a workplace recording as evidence in a lawsuit?

Yes. Recordings made lawfully under South Dakota one-party consent are generally admissible in employment discrimination cases, harassment claims, wage disputes, and other legal proceedings. The recording must be authenticated as genuine and unaltered.

Does my employer have to tell me about security cameras?

South Dakota does not have a specific statute requiring employers to notify employees about video surveillance. However, providing notice through signage or employee handbook policies is considered a best practice and reduces employees' expectation of privacy in monitored open work areas. Notice does not make cameras in private places lawful.