Feigning Illness to Attend Training: Detectives Investigate in Brandenburg

Application for Educational Leave by an Employee Rejected

An employee approaches the client of Kurtz Investigations Potsdam and Brandenburg with a request for one week of educational leave at a specific upcoming date, stating that a seminar she is keen to attend would take place during that period. Her employer, who has already worked with our detectives in Potsdam on several occasions, informs her that the request has been submitted too late and that her presence in the office is urgently required during the proposed week. He also asks how this training is related to her current role. The employee then openly admits that she intends to acquire qualifications for a career change – not a particularly astute negotiating strategy.

Short-Notice Assignment for Surveillance

On the Monday of the relevant week, the employee telephones the company to report sick. For understandable reasons, her employer suspects feigned illness and commissions Kurtz Investigations Potsdam and Brandenburg at short notice to deploy two detectives to conduct surveillance of the employee. Due to the lack of lead time, our investigators are only able to arrive at her home address around midday. In the afternoon, they observe the target person (TP) returning home after having been absent for several hours. Kurtz Investigations Potsdam terminates the operation and schedules a renewed start for the following morning, this time beginning in the early hours in order to document the full daily routine of the suspicious employee.

Vehicle Surveillance by Kurtz Investigations Potsdam

The following morning, the TP leaves her flat carrying a document case and drives off, followed by our private detectives from Potsdam. Unfortunately, the client of Kurtz Private Investigations Potsdam and Brandenburg does not know where the training course is being held. The subject matter of the course in question is a very common one, offered by countless training providers in the surrounding area and especially in Berlin. Narrowing down the location during preliminary research therefore proved nearly impossible.

 

Ultimately, the journey from the TP’s place of residence takes almost three quarters of an hour at a very moderate speed. The situation becomes challenging shortly before arrival at the destination, as the TP drives through sparsely trafficked streets where our Brandenburg detectives risk drawing attention after having followed her for more than forty minutes. Accordingly, the private investigators keep their distance and research online which training providers are located in the immediate vicinity. In total, there are three, two of which offer the course attended by the TP. Our business investigators from Potsdam therefore split up between both locations in order to locate the target vehicle and, of course, the TP herself.

Suspicion Confirmed: Feigned Incapacity for Work by the TP

When one of the deployed surveillance officers locates the target vehicle parked at the roadside outside one of the training centres, the detective team regroups and the business investigators enter the building together. According to the notice board, the class is divided between two adjacent training rooms. The private detectives of Kurtz Investigations Potsdam and Brandenburg take up observation positions inside the building, from which they can monitor the flow of people exiting the rooms. They wait for the next break and identify the TP as she goes outside to smoke a cigarette with other course participants. The detectives from Brandenburg continue the surveillance until the TP leaves in the afternoon in the target vehicle. They deliberately refrain from following her back to her home address, as they wish to avoid unnecessary attention, and attendance at the training course is entirely sufficient to substantiate the suspicion of abuse of sick leave.

Court-Admissible Proof of the Offence

In consultation with the client of Kurtz Investigations Potsdam and Brandenburg, the surveillance is repeated on Wednesday and Thursday, this time commencing directly at the training facility rather than at the TP’s residence. The outcome is identical on both days. Further surveillance on Friday is waived for reasons of cost and proportionality, as the suspicion has been conclusively proven and the regularity of the misconduct has also been documented in a manner admissible in court.

All names and locations have, of course, been altered beyond recognition in order to protect the client and the target person.

 

Kurtz Investigations Potsdam and Brandenburg

Gregor-Mendel-Straße 15

D-14469 Potsdam

Tel.: +49 331 2785 0052

E-Mail: kontakt@kurtz-detektei-potsdam.de

Web: https://www.kurtz-detektei-potsdam.de/en

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