New Hampshire recording consent law for interviews: all parties, every format

New Hampshire requires the consent of every party before a phone call or private conversation is recorded. Under RSA 570-A:2, I, a person who wilfully intercepts a telecommunication or oral communication "without the consent of all parties to the communication" is guilty of a class B felony, and that applies to a participant recording their own call. As of October 2026, the offense carries up to seven years in prison, and the person recorded can sue for at least $1,000. For interviewers, the rule is simple: say you are recording or transcribing, and get a yes from everyone before capture starts.

Calling across a state line? The consent checker compares New Hampshire with your state.

This page looks at three points that matter for hiring and are easy to miss: the definitions that pull Wi-Fi video calls into the statute, a clause aimed at recording on business premises, and the rule that unlawful recordings cannot be used in state proceedings. It also covers penalties, cross-border calls and a consent line.

What does RSA 570-A:2 prohibit?

Paragraph I opens: "A person is guilty of a class B felony if, except as otherwise specifically provided in this chapter or without the consent of all parties to the communication, the person" does any of the following:

• (a) wilfully intercepts, or procures another person to intercept, "any telecommunication or oral communication";
• (b) wilfully uses a device to intercept an oral communication in listed situations, including where the use "takes place on premises of any business or other commercial establishment";
• (c) wilfully discloses the contents, "knowing or having reason to know" they came from an unlawful interception;
• (d) wilfully uses those contents, with the same knowledge.

Paragraph II lists the exceptions: switchboard operators and carriers, law enforcement in defined situations, FCC monitoring, emergency services, utilities answering emergency calls, police traffic-stop and body-worn recordings, and school buses. None applies to an employer, a staffing agency or an interview.

Does the law cover video interviews over Wi-Fi?

The definitions in RSA 570-A:1 answer most of this:

"Any form of information," carried "in whole or in part" through a carrier's facilities, with carriers defined to include wireless access points, is wide enough to reach a Zoom, Teams or Meet interview on home Wi-Fi or a phone's data connection. We found no New Hampshire appellate decision applying the statute to a video platform, so this is a reading of the text rather than a court ruling. Plan as if video is covered; there is no practical reason not to.

Why does the business-premises clause matter for on-site interviews?

Paragraph I(b) targets devices used to intercept oral communications in three situations. One is where the use "takes place on premises of any business or other commercial establishment," and another is where it "obtains or is for the purpose of obtaining information relating to the operations of any business." An interview in a company office is on business premises, and its contents are about the business's hiring. A phone left recording on a conference room table without everyone's consent is the situation the clause was written for. Whether a particular conversation is an oral communication still depends on a reasonable expectation that it is not being intercepted, and a closed-door interview usually meets that test.

Is recording your own call a crime in New Hampshire?

It can be. In State v. Mueller, 166 N.H. 65 (2014), a man was convicted of three counts of felony wiretapping under RSA 570-A:2, I(a) for recording conversations he was a party to. The New Hampshire Supreme Court ordered a new trial because the jury was given the wrong mental state, holding that "wilfully" means the defendant acted "with an intentional or reckless disregard for the lawfulness of his conduct." A person with a genuine good-faith belief that their conduct was lawful has not committed the felony. That defense fades once you know the rule. The case is discussed further in New Hampshire wiretap law for interviews.

Paragraph I-a creates a misdemeanor for intercepting as a party, or with one party's consent, "without the approval required by RSA 570-A:2, II(d)," which is the approval process for law enforcement officers. It is not a lighter one-party rule for private interviewers.

How does the law apply to each interview format?

What are the penalties in New Hampshire?

• Prison. Under RSA 651:2, II(b), the maximum for a class B felony is seven years.
• Fines. Under RSA 651:2, IV, a fine for a felony "may not exceed $4,000" for an individual, and $100,000 for "a corporation or unincorporated association."
• Civil damages. Under RSA 570-A:11, "actual damages but not less than liquidated damages computed at the rate of $100 a day for each day of violation or $1,000, whichever is higher," punitive damages, and attorney's fees.
• Evidence. Under RSA 570-A:6, no part of an unlawfully intercepted communication, "and no evidence derived therefrom," may be received in "any trial, hearing, or other proceeding" before a court, grand jury, "department, officer, agency, regulatory body" or other state authority.

The evidence rule is worth thinking about before a dispute, not after. If a hiring decision is later challenged before a state agency, an interview recorded without consent cannot be used to show what was actually said, and anything learned from it is tainted too.

What if the candidate is in Massachusetts, Maine or Vermont?

Massachusetts, to the south, prohibits secret recording without every party's prior authority; see Massachusetts recording consent law for interviews. Maine allows a party to record, and Vermont has no general state recording statute, so federal one-party rules apply there. A recruiter in Portland, Maine, or Burlington, Vermont, who calls a candidate in Manchester or Nashua is calling into an all-party state, and courts in all-party states have applied their own law to protect people on their side of a call. The approaches are compared in recording calls across state lines, and New Hampshire's place in the national picture is on two-party consent states. For the AI and notice rules that apply on top of recording law, see is it legal to record a job interview.

A consent line for New Hampshire interviews

"One thing before we start: I'd like to [record / transcribe] this
interview so my notes for the [role] position are accurate, and the
other interviewers have agreed. It's seen only by [who] and deleted
after [period]. If you'd prefer I didn't, just say so and I'll take
notes by hand; it won't count against you. Do I have your OK?"

[Clear yes: start. No or unsure: capture stays off.]

If you start capture just before asking, so the answer is on the record, delete that opening if the answer is no. More versions are in the interview recording consent script.

Checklist for New Hampshire interviews

1. Get every party's consent, in every format, before capture starts.
2. Treat video calls as telecommunications.
3. Never leave a device recording in an office interview without telling the people in the room.
4. Treat transcripts and AI notes the same as audio.
5. Do not share or use a recording you are unsure was made with consent.
6. Write the rule into a dated policy for every recruiter who calls into New Hampshire.