requesting the recording of a meeting

rocky1996

I chaired a meeting at a social club disciplinary hearing the member asked if they could record the meeting. We had no objection and agreed. We all made notes of course but in the spirit of openness and to help clarify a few points it would be very useful to have a copy of the audio file. So far the member is refusing can we do anything. To be fair it may not be in the members interest as our notes detected an admittance of fault. 

Undervalued

I don't think you have a right to a copy of a recording made by an individual in a personal capacity. If he was doing it on behalf of the club (or a business) that would be a different matter. However this seems to be a grey area as he was apparently not doing it on your behalf. His membership of the club was presumably a "personal or domestic activity".

A quick Google seems to confirm this

Does the GDPR apply to an individual?
The GDPR does not apply to a natural person in terms of conducting a ‘personal or domestic’ activity, as it is discussed in Recital 18:
“This Regulation does not apply to the processing of personal data by a natural person in the course of a purely personal or household activity and thus with no connection to a professional or commercial activity.

The ICO would be the organisation to contact to clarify this.

As an aside, you do realise that the individual would not have been breaking any law if he had secretly recorded the meeting, as long as he was personally present. There might have been some civil remedies open to you had he "published" the recording (i.e. played it to anybody who was not present) but that too is a complex area.

With hindsight it would have been much better if the organisation had recorded the meeting and made a copy available to anybody who was present, which as an organisation they would be obliged to do under the GDPR.

I suspect if you push the matter his phone (or whatever) will have sadly dropped into the sea! Seems to happen quit a lot!

He is of course entitled to a copy of your notes!

Admiral_Barbarossa

I take it that the one who recorded the meeting is no longer a member?

nyermen

If a group of you have noted what was said, then surely you can proceed on that basis.  The recording would just back up what you say?  If the other person then says "that wasn't said" its their word against the rest of you?  They are of course welcome to produce the recording they've got (have they admitted they have it in writing?) to clarify...?

MalMonroe

You said " We all made notes of course" but normally social clubs have not only a chair but also a secretary and a treasurer. In fact, shouldn't the constitution of the committee have those appointments anyway? How can you operate a full and fair system without the correct constitution?

The secretary should take minutes of meetings and they should be neutral. If you are all taking your own notes, they may not be accurate and they may also be biased. Especially as you say " as our notes detected an admittance of fault." Is there any proper proof?

I don't know why the member accused would deny you access to the recording if it would help him. But I don't think anyone can force him to let you have it.

I don't think I'd want to be a member of your social club, either, it sounds far to strict for a 'social club'.

redped

MalMonroe said:

I don't think I'd want to be a member of your social club, either, it sounds far to strict for a 'social club'.

It all depends on the reason for the disciplinary meeting, which we don't know.  For example, if a member had made a sexist/racist/etc. remark to a member of staff, then I'd say it would be perfectly appropriate to have the meeting. 

TELLIT01

What do the rules of the club say about the constitution of a disciplinary hearing?  How many people need to be present? Is the 'accused' allowed to have somebody to accompany them?  Basically, have the accusers actually followed their own rules in the way they have acted.  I ask because the person who has been accused my be intended to take action, with the recording as evidence.

mattyprice4004

redped said:

MalMonroe said:

I don't think I'd want to be a member of your social club, either, it sounds far to strict for a 'social club'.

It all depends on the reason for the disciplinary meeting, which we don't know.  For example, if a member had made a sexist/racist/etc. remark to a member of staff, then I'd say it would be perfectly appropriate to have the meeting. 

Don’t take anything posted by this account too seriously, some of the replies are a little far-fetched at best and other posters have seen some that could have been downright harmful. 

diinozzo

MalMonroe said:

You said " We all made notes of course" but normally social clubs have not only a chair but also a secretary and a treasurer. In fact, shouldn't the constitution of the committee have those appointments anyway? How can you operate a full and fair system without the correct constitution?

The secretary should take minutes of meetings and they should be neutral. If you are all taking your own notes, they may not be accurate and they may also be biased. Especially as you say " as our notes detected an admittance of fault." Is there any proper proof?

I don't know why the member accused would deny you access to the recording if it would help him. But I don't think anyone can force him to let you have it.

I don't think I'd want to be a member of your social club, either, it sounds far to strict for a 'social club'.

BiB, at last an admission.

rocky1996

Thank you for your comments the situation was a number of members contracted covid from an outing which members attended a third in fact so as a precaution we decided to close the club for 5 days. We have quite a number of vulnerable people so we were acting in the interest of our members. However a small minority entered the club to play pool despite it being closed. They threatened to remove locks if we did not return the key to allow them to play. It resulted in one of them having a stand off at a committee members house swearing and threatening etc if they didn't get the key to the club. When the residents were notified of the closure not one person contacted a committee member to question it. We had done it once before and again everyone followed the rules of a temporary closure without question. I believe our action given the circumstances was more than reasonable. Before this we had never had any issues and contrary to your thoughts was a thriving friendly group of people. The pool players meet on set days the coffee morning and craft club meet on set days the only ones to breach the rule was the pool players. We believe we acted without discrimination or favour and was for a valid reason. Minutes were independently taken as a matter of course  but of course every one makes notes. We tried to be open we sent replies to each person present from our insurers who actually agreed with us to closing. When we did this before it was also deemed good practice from our local health Board. All organisations have rules if you dont enforce them what's the point then anything would be acceptable. Our minutes will be the ones we refer to of course if they think they have any new evidence from there audio then we will of course look at it fairly at any appeal. We have a full constitution which gives the committee the right and authority to  make decisions for the smooth running of the club financially and administratively and for the well being of club members. We have a full committee in place and have never had to have a member/s before the committee in many many years  well before my time .

Manxman_in_exile

Don't take any notice of MalMonroe.

If they wouldn't want to be a member of your social club that might be a good thing...