How can private investigators help with Disability and workplace injury claims?

There are many ways in which an organization can eliminate loss and/or recover funds paid out due to fradulent workplace injury situations. For example:

• Discreet surveillance investigations. Professionally trained private investigators can organize a legal investigation in a discrete manner to determine the activities of daily living of disability claimants to ascertain their level of disability, functional abilities, and their readiness to return to work. Video and Photographic evidence is used in conjunction with a comprehensive report outlining the functionality of the claimant.

An impatrial third party investigator who knows how to be discrete, can condcut an orchestrated and planned investigation without bias which will yield results that hold up in court.

Common Ontario WSIB Fraud Workplace Injury Schemes:

• An unethical employee is injured due to an outside personal activity, such as playing sports. Employee misrepresents that the injury was caused at the workplace, and was reported to the employer, but claims the employer did not adhere to their responsibilities under the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Act: "An employer who fails to register or to provide the information required under section 75 is guilty of an offence."
• Employee receives a minor injury at the workplace. The employer does adhere to their responsibilities, and does report it. However, the employee makes a fraudulent claim that the injury is more severe than it really is, and that the employer violated their responsibilities as they provided false information in their workplace injury report: "Section 151. 1.1 An employer who knowingly provides false or misleading information under section 75 is guilty of an offence."

Double dipping - Working for Cash while Claiming Disability:

An employee is off work on disability, on either STD/LTD/WSIB, and instead of spending their days rehabilitating, they are instead working elsewhere for cash.

In some cases employers are tipped off by an anonymous informant and other times employers hear of social media posts by the disability claimants portraying a lavish lifestyle with large purchases and frequent vacations.

Discrete surveillance is paramount to confirm if the disability claimant is working for cash on the side. An appropriate investigation may include a team of investigators to avoid detection and obtain the evidence needed.

What is the difference between a mystery shop and secret shopper:

Often these terms are used interchangably. However, a mystery shop investigation is a broad term for investigations that are commonly related IP, Trademarking, and Copyright investigations; whereas secret shopper investigations are typically conducted by employers in the retail or customer service sectors to determine if their staff are conducting themselves appropriately in the workplace.

Why choosing experienced mystery shop investigators is important:

An overwhelming amount of private investigators and investigation agencies condcut only surveillance. After these investigators conduct surveillance investigations and provide their report to their clients, they almsot never have to testify their evidence in court. But mystery shop investigators provide reports that are commonly used in court immediately upon completion. So it is important for the reporting to be true and accurate because investigators must swear an affidavit shortly after completing their investigation.

How can private investigators help with theft & fraud in the workplace?

• "Timecard theft" is a criminal offence under the Canadian Criminal Code: "Falsifying employment record - every one who, with intent to deceive, falsifies an employment record by any means, including the punching of a time clock, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction." Private investigators can monitor the activities of an employee suspected on reasonable grounds to be falsifying their clock in and clock out records, effectively stealing from the company.
• Recording video of employees claiming to be on the jobsite but actually somewhere else, such as on public transit or a personal residence.
• Surveillance operations to observe employees suspected of taking bribes or kickbacks. White collar crime, such as an employee in a position of power overseeing a competitive vendor selection process, and then selecting the vendor with which there exists a potential conflict of interest may need to be investigated. If the cost of the vendor's products or service suddenly jumps above the market price, and the employee suddenly starts driving a more expensive new car or moves into a larger house, it may be a sign of workplace fraud.
• Undercover investigations can result in video evidence of employees stealing company property, whether merchandise or back office supplies. Unethical employees on their best behaviour while their supervisor or manager present can present a completely different side of their personalities when their leadership leaves the room. Private investigators blending into the background can uncover the truth and record any fradulent transactions or theft of company goods.
• Background investigations can flush out individual motives that may indicate propensity to commit workplace theft or fraud, such as: an employee's severely ill family member requires an expensive operation, or, an employee is going through an expensive custody battle or has defaulted on some loans and is going through a financial crisis.

How significant a problem is employee theft & fraud?

Some estimates show that insiders (employees) out-steal outsiders (members of the public, etc.) 3 to 1. Employees of large corporations can develop a sense that "it won't really make a difference" and steal an item or two, here or there, and don't see it as theft.

In organizations where this culture has taken root, very soon more and more employees feel comfortable to "steal" more and more. A 2014 article from the Journal of Applied Psychology entitled The Slippery Slope: How Small Ethical Transgressions Pave the Way for Larger Future Transgressions by David T. Welsh, et. al. called this phenomenon a social-cognitive mechanism known as moral disengagement. To employers, this means protecting an ethical company culture is paramount.

Employees can "steal" time: timecard theft, reporting to work when not present, claiming service was 4 hours long when it was really 1 hour plus a 3 hour lunch break, etc.

Employees can "steal" information: intellectual property, client data, financial records, confidential employee information, trade secrets, etc.

Employees can "steal" money: petty cash funds, payroll fraud, fudge accounting records, forge cheques, use company credit cards for personal purchases, etc.

How likely is it to happen? The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners reported in 2018 that theft of non-cash property such as product and supplies comprised 21% of corporate losses in 2018.

It has been estimated that, on average, an employee will need to steal approximately $2500 worth of company property before getting caught.

Statistics Canada reports that in April 2020, Canadians reported 12,900 incidents of fraud to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Center and the Better Business Bureau. The CAFC reported a total of $98 million lost to fraud in 2019 with more than 19,000 victims.

Are regularly private investigators successful in undercover workplace investigations?

Yes but it takes a trained and qualified private investigator to know how to be a 'method actor' while posing as a worker. They must 'live' as worker and conduct their job duties as if they were trained to do so.

Investigative video & reports from an impartial & professional third party will help strengthen company culture by uncovering the facts.