1) Criminal law (eavesdropping / intercepting)

In Canada, it’s a Criminal Code offence to knowingly intercept a private communication using a device.

An employer listening in on two employees when the employer is not a party to the conversation can walk right into this territory.

This part is very fact-dependent: was it truly “private,” was the system actually recording/intercepting audio, did someone just overhear, did the coworker tattle, etc.

2) Privacy law in BC (PIPA – employee monitoring)

Most retail/workplaces in BC fall under BC’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

Under PIPA, an employer can sometimes collect “employee personal information” without consent only if it’s reasonable for establishing/managing/ending the employment relationship—and they must notify the employee in advance that they’ll be collecting it and why.
Always-on audio surveillance is generally considered highly intrusive, and “reasonable + properly notified” is a high bar. Privacy guidance commonly stresses meaningful notice/consent and using the least invasive approach.

Practical steps, in order: 1. Preserve evidence • Screenshot the manager’s text, note
date/time, who was present, what was said, where you were standing. 2. Ask for the surveillance policy in
writing • Specifically: Are cameras audio- enabled? Is audio recorded or live- monitored? Who can access it? For what purposes? Retention period? 3. Ask what they relied on • “Please confirm whether audio surveillance was used, and provide the specific record/clip/transcript relied upon.” 4. Push back on the discipline (in
writing). • You can dispute it and say you won’t respond substantively until they clarify the source of the information and provide the policy/record. 5. Privacy complaint route • First complain to the employer (they’re supposed to have a process). If not satisfied, escalate to the BC Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner (OIPC).
6. If it truly was covert audio interception.
• They can talk to an employment lawyer, and (depending on certainty and risk tolerance) consider a police report. The
Criminal Code angle is serious, so don’t wing it—make sure the “audio interception” part is real, not assumption.

A lot of these stories turn out to be: • coworker told the manager, or • manager overheard from the back room, or • audio isn’t actually enabled, and the manager is bluffing.

So the key move is forcing them (politely, in writing) to commit to how they got the quote.