Self-Employed (Unauthorized) Activity During Sick Leave | Case Example

In 2015, the Aaden Corporate Detective Agency Stuttgart was contacted by the legal representative of a hospital from northern Germany. One of their doctors had been on sick leave for an extended period, and based on an external tip, the hospital had reasonable grounds to suspect that the doctor in question was working independently in a practice in Stuttgart during his certified incapacity for work, a practice that was known to be run by his former partner. The hospital commissioned the Aaden Detectives Stuttgart to investigate this suspicion.

Undercover Practice Visit by Our Detective

Together with the operations management, one of our Stuttgart private detectives developed a simple cover story appropriate to the situation and went to the partner’s practice, where the target person was suspected to be, without making a prior appointment. The case turned out to be unusually straightforward, as our investigator already discovered the name of the target person on the building façade as a senior physician in a joint practice of two doctors. Thus, it became evident at this point that the target person was engaged in an unauthorized secondary activity. It now only remained to be clarified whether the physician was doing so during the ongoing sick leave certification and was therefore guilty not only of a breach of contract due to the secondary activity but also of abusing sick leave.

Treatment of the Private Detective by the Target Person

Our detective from Stuttgart entered the building and found another sign with the name of the target person on the practice floor. In the reception area, he was asked by an unknown staff member to fill out a series of documents. After a very short waiting time, he was taken to a treatment room, where the target person soon joined him wearing a doctor’s coat—fortunately, it was the target person himself and not the business partner from the same medical field. The actual hospital employee asked several questions and then treated our investigator. Finally, the doctor prepared a medical report regarding the examination of our private detective in Stuttgart.

Watertight Investigation Result from Our Detective Agency

In order to provide not only his witness statement and the obvious practice sign but also written proof, our investigator from the Aaden Corporate Detective Agency Stuttgart requested cash payment with a direct invoice. This invoice was signed by hand by the target person—just like the medical report, which was also handed over to the detective. As a result, our Stuttgart detectives had a perfect investigation result after only a few hours of work—this is by no means a given in the detective business, as investigations can often be very time-consuming and sometimes frustrating.

Ultimately, this single operation by the Aaden Detectives Stuttgart provided clear and court-admissible evidence of the following offenses: fraud related to continued wage payment, engagement in an unauthorized secondary activity, and abuse of sick leave. The target person effectively received double payment by collecting continued wages from the commissioning hospital while also generating income from their self-employed activity.