The Constitutional Court in its judgment from December 9, 2014 significantly moved the boundaries of the protection of employees in their position as the weaker party in relation to the employer. Generally, in a civil proceeding, the recording of a personal expressions, i.e. expressions unrelated to job, business, or other public activities, made without the consent of the recorded person are not admissible as an evidence because it significantly disrupts the privacy of the recorded person.
The Constitutional Court in its judgment modified this rule especially for labor relations. In labor law, an employee is considered as the weaker party which needs to be taken into account when protecting its rights. In case that the secret acquisition of the audio track aims to achieve legal protection of a significantly weaker party in a considerable civil and in particular labor dispute is such audio recording made without the knowledge of the recorded person, admissible even though it contains expressions of a personal nature. However, the weaker party does not always have this right. The main condition is a serious injury that threatens the weaker party, and without the use of such audio track such threat would most likely occur.
