It has become common now for employees to post their terminations on social media. In a recent video, an employee, tipped off that her remote sales role was about to be cut, quietly hit record and pushed back on the two HR representatives delivering the news — neither of whom she had ever met. She posted the recording online, and it has been viewed by millions. It is worth watching these videos, not to judge the people in it — a termination is a hard, human moment, and there is no single right way to do it — but because it captures, in real time, where remote and recorded terminations create new risk for California employers.
Here are five takeaways for conducting a termination in 2026, when you should assume the conversation may end up on someone’s phone.
1. Assume the meeting is being recorded — and act accordingly.
A few years ago this was a fringe concern. Today, an employee who knows a termination is coming will often prepare a recording, and the technology in everyone’s pocket makes it effortless. California is a two-party (all-party) consent state: under Penal Code section 632, it is a crime to record a confidential communication without the consent of every participant, and a communication is “confidential” when a party has an objectively reasonable expectation it is not being overheard or recorded. A recording made without that consent is generally inadmissible in court under section 632(d) — but admissibility is cold comfort once the clip is on social media....
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