WA Recording Phone Conversations at Work

[Earthling]

I have Call Recorder on my phone.
Both Parties are in WA.
I recorded a phone call with my Supervisor before the work where from my understanding I was to be paid a 'day in lieu' instead of a daily or hourly payment.
They now deny this and paid me 5hours pay for more than twice that amount of hours. Two days of this.
Can I use that recorded conversation as evidence through them or if need be FairWork?
Under the basis that it was recorded to protect my legal rights?

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

The relevant act here is the Surveillance Devices Act. Under the Act, relevantly, you can record a private conversation which you are a party to if:

a. All principal parties to the conversation consent to the recording. You don’t have that here; or
b. A principal party to the conversation (i.e. you) consents to the recording and it is reasonably necessary to protect your lawful interests.

Whether or not you satisfy b is debatable. The penalty for getting it wrong if you’re charged is a fine of up to $5,000 and/or imprisonment for up to 12 months. If you play your hand you might find an annoyed employer as they generally don’t like this sort of conduct in the first place - and possibly that triggers a complaint to the police.

For the sake of things, I’d delete the recording and raise the issue by saying, ‘You promised me X and gave me Y. That’s not my understanding of what was agreed. To ensure there’s no uncertainty I’ll need confirmation of what is actually agreed, in writing, for anything like this in the future. Email or text is fine. I just don’t want there to be any misunderstandings.”

 

[Earthling]

Thanks for your reply Rob.
Yes I will follow your advice for the future.
Since I posted this thread I spoke to FairWork and they have said irregardless of any verbal 'agreement', my Employer must follow the EBA that we signed at the start of my employment. So I am not going to use the recording at all, as there is no need for it now.
My work place has people from diverse backgrounds with some having English as their second language, including my Coordinator, so it makes sense to use text and email as much as possible in the future.
Thanks again