Which torts should be discussed when an employee secretly records a phone conversation without consent?

The discussion of torts surrounding an employee secretly recording a phone conversation without consent primarily involves intrusion and appropriation.

Intrusion pertains to the invasion of an individual’s privacy, which applies directly in the case of secret recordings. This tort is rooted in the idea that individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy in certain settings, such as phone conversations. When one party records a conversation without the other's knowledge or consent, it constitutes an unwarranted intrusion into that individual's private affairs.

Appropriation refers to the unauthorized use of someone’s name or likeness for commercial gain. While not directly applicable to the act of secretly recording a conversation, it can come into play if the recorded material is later used inappropriately, particularly in a manner that exploits someone's image or persona without permission.

In contrast, options that include defamation and infringement focus on wrongful damage to reputation and intellectual property issues, neither of which are directly relevant to the act of secret recording. Similarly, fair use and misrepresentation deal with the use of copyrighted material and presenting false information, which are not pertinent to this scenario either. Thus, focusing on intrusion and, to a lesser extent, appropriation aligns most accurately with the legal implications of secretly recording a conversation without consent.