Kentucky recording consent law for interviews: a 1974 statute with one-party consent

Kentucky is a one-party consent state. Its eavesdropping law, in effect since 1975, defines the offense in a single sentence: under KRS 526.010, to eavesdrop is "to overhear, record, amplify or transmit any part of a wire or oral communication of others without the consent of at least one (1) party thereto by means of any electronic, mechanical or other device." An interviewer who records their own interview is a party, and the communication is not "of others," so Kentucky law permits it. The statute is short, criminal only and older than video calls, which leaves some questions for federal law and the candidate's state.

To check your location against the candidate's, open the consent checker.

Chapter 526 in four sections

Kentucky's whole recording framework fits in a few short sections:

A Class D felony carries "not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years" under KRS 532.060(2)(d), and KRS 534.030 requires a fine of at least $1,000 and not more than $10,000, or double the offender's gain if that is greater.

Reading the definition closely

"Of others"

The definition targets communications "of others." A recruiter's own phone screen is not a communication of others from the recruiter's point of view. A hiring manager's interview that the recruiter is not part of is, so recording it needs the consent of at least one person in that conversation.

"Whether or not he is present"

KRS 526.020 applies "whether or not he is present at the time." Setting a laptop to record a panel and leaving the room, or scheduling a bot to capture a meeting you skip, is still use of a device to eavesdrop if nobody in the conversation agreed. Being the person who set it up does not make you a party.

"Wire or oral communication"

Chapter 526 does not define either term, and it predates internet video. A phone screen is plainly a wire communication and an in-person interview an oral one. A Zoom or Teams interview is very likely treated as one or the other, but the text does not say so, and we found no official guidance. Federal law closes the gap: it classifies video calls as electronic communications and applies the same one-party rule to them.

No purpose limit in the text

Unlike the federal statute, KRS 526.010 does not add an exception for recordings made to commit a crime or tort. The federal consent exception at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) still does, and it applies to the same interview, so a Kentucky employer should treat a lawful, job-related purpose as a condition of recording.

Meeting rooms with built-in recording

KRS 526.030 is easy to overlook because it is about hardware, not calls. It makes it a Class D felony to install or place a device "in any place with the knowledge that it is to be used for eavesdropping." Many offices now have conference rooms with ceiling microphones and room systems that can record or transcribe automatically. Used for an interview where an interviewer is present and the candidate has been told, that is ordinary recording by a party. The risk is in the configuration: a room set to capture every meeting, including ones where no participant knows it is running, is closer to what the statute describes.

If your Lexington or Louisville office books interviews into rooms like these, check three settings before the first candidate arrives: whether recording starts automatically, whether the room shows a visible indicator, and who can retrieve the files afterward. Turning automatic capture off and starting it deliberately, after asking, keeps the interviewer in control and keeps the room on the right side of the line.

No civil damages section in Chapter 526

Kentucky's chapter is criminal only; it has no provision like Ohio's or Indiana's giving the person recorded a right to liquidated damages. That does not leave a candidate without a remedy for an unlawful recording. The federal civil action in 18 U.S.C. § 2520 allows the greater of actual damages plus profits or statutory damages of "the greater of $100 a day for each day of violation or $10,000," along with punitive damages and attorney's fees. Other civil theories under Kentucky law, such as privacy torts, are outside what we reviewed for this page.

Interview formats

Seven neighbors, one all-party state

Kentucky borders seven states. Six of them (Ohio, Indiana, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia) follow a one-party rule for participants. The exception is Illinois, across the Ohio River from Paducah and Wickliffe, which makes it a felony to record a private conversation surreptitiously without everyone's consent. A western Kentucky plant interviewing candidates from Metropolis or Cairo should treat those calls as all-party; see Illinois eavesdropping law for interviews.

The Louisville and Northern Kentucky labor markets cross into Indiana and Ohio, both one-party; Indiana's narrow definition of interception is explained in Indiana recording consent law for interviews, and Ohio's higher civil damages in Ohio recording consent law for interviews. For candidates beyond the region, the way courts handle conflicting state laws is covered in recording calls across state lines.

The candidate has the same right

One-party consent cuts both ways. A candidate interviewing from their kitchen in Bowling Green is a party to the call and needs nobody's permission under KRS 526.010 to record it. Interviewers who assume a conversation is off the record sometimes say things they would not put in writing: a comment about a candidate's age, a question about childcare, a remark about a previous employer. Plan every interview as though a recording might exist, because in Kentucky it lawfully can. Structured questions and a written scorecard make that easy to live with.

What Kentucky hiring teams should do

1. Only participants start capture, or someone with a participant's consent. The "whether or not he is present" clause closes the remote-setup route.
2. Treat transcription as recording. The definition reaches recording or transmitting "any part" of a communication by device, and a machine transcript is a record of it.
3. Do not pass along questionable recordings. Using or divulging eavesdropped information is its own offense under KRS 526.060.
4. Ask about location at scheduling, especially for western Kentucky roles that draw from Illinois.
5. Review analysis tools separately using AI hiring laws by state.

A consent line for Kentucky interviews

"Hi [name], thanks for making time. With your permission I'll
[record / transcribe] today's interview, just so the notes I pass to
[hiring manager] reflect what you actually said. Nobody outside the
hiring team gets it, and it's erased after [period]. If you'd rather
I didn't, that's completely fine. Shall I go ahead?"

[Begin capture on a clear yes only. No answer counts as no.]

Kentucky law does not require the request for a call you are on. It is there for the candidate in Illinois, for the federal purpose condition, and for the file. Panel and email versions are in the interview recording consent script; Kentucky also appears on one-party consent states.