Bochum Detectives Uncover Unauthorised Secondary Employment

In the repeatedly recurring periods of economic crises, rising rents and general increases in the cost of living, but also due to purely personal problems such as maintenance obligations and loan debts or for less noble motives such as sheer greed, many employees feel compelled or tempted to take up a second job alongside their primary employment. In many cases, two jobs can be reconciled with one another; however, there are likewise countless constellations in which the secondary job is either prohibited under collective bargaining law or by the employment contract (for example by a non-competition clause) or in which the additional working hours impair the employee in their main occupation by making them tired and unfocused. If a company’s management requires evidence admissible in court as to whether an employee is pursuing a prohibited secondary activity or not, it brings its suspicion to Kurtz Detective Agency Bochum, which addresses the clarification of this suspicion by means of various investigative methods.

 

If, for example, an employee of a photography shop uses the skills acquired there (and perhaps even company-owned photographic equipment) at weekends by working as a self-employed wedding, birth or party photographer, this activity may run counter to their employment contract. Employers ultimately wish to prevent their own employees from becoming competitors and taking on assignments that could have been carried out by the employing company itself. If the employment contract contains a non-competition clause or even a post-contractual non-competition agreement and this is violated, the employee faces not only a formal warning but even summary dismissal. Our private detectives from Bochum undertake the gathering of evidence: +49 234 3075 0073.

What Legal Bases Exist For Secondary Employment?

Even in cases in which a secondary activity is neither excluded by the employment contract nor by a collective agreement, there are important basic requirements that must be complied with when exercising a second job. For example, most employers wish to be informed about the commencement of an additional job or even to be asked for permission; this becomes legally binding as soon as the two activities collide with one another or as soon as such a collision is foreseeable. Furthermore, the legally prescribed working hours of a maximum of 8 hours per day – or 10 in exceptional cases – must not be exceeded; in addition, the employee must have at least eleven hours of rest from the end of work until the start of work on the following day, otherwise the second contract becomes void and must be terminated at the insistence of the primary employer. Of course, a secondary activity must also be registered with the tax office, otherwise heavy fines or even criminal prosecution may be imposed.

 

The investigators of our corporate investigation agency in Bochum have already encountered countless gradations of disregard for these legal principles, often in conjunction with a certain degree of audacity, all of which had the aim of channelling money into one’s own pocket as undisturbed as possible by the tax authorities, employers and often also maintenance creditors or recipients.

Secondary Employment During Holiday Periods

Employees occasionally cover the still necessary additional income with a mini-job of currently up to 450 euros, provided that the weekly working hours and the employment contract of the primary employment relationship permit this. If the employee is on holiday from their primary job, employment law permits additional gainful activity during this holiday period as well, provided that it is not a full-time position, since otherwise the conditions for the recuperative holiday phase would not be met.

Secondary Employment During Incapacity For Work / Sick Leave

While secondary employment during holidays may therefore be permissible under certain circumstances, the employee must under no circumstances work for another employer during a period of sick leave. If an illness is feigned or if the employee fails to comply with their duty to behave in a manner conducive to recovery, this is, as a rule, sufficient grounds for summary dismissal. Our corporate investigators from Bochum have various options at their disposal to uncover such misconduct under employment law: infiltration of the secondary business, creation of legends, for example as an alleged customer, and – most frequently – surveillance of the employee during the period of sick leave.

Establishing Evidence Admissible In Court For Affected Companies

If an employee repeatedly returns to work exhausted and stressed after holidays and weekends, this does not necessarily mean that a second job exists, but it is an indicator which, particularly in combination with other factors such as corresponding information from the workforce or declining work performance, substantiates a suspicion. If, for example, a bank employee pursues another activity as a pizza delivery driver, taxi driver or nightclub bouncer after their regular working hours, fatigue as well as the resulting lack of concentration and inaccuracies in the daytime work can hardly be concealed permanently. Even if the employment contract of the bank clerk in question theoretically permits secondary employment, they must ensure that they fulfil their duties in both employments equally, so that neither of the two employment relationships suffers as a result. A warning is of only limited help here, because, according to the experience of our private detective agency in Bochum, far too many employees exploit the patience and generosity of their superiors without a guilty conscience and simply continue their secondary activities covertly after a warning.

 

Extreme, but by no means rare, cases include, as already indicated, feigned illnesses, in which the employee suggests incapacity for work with a sick note obtained by false statements or even forged, yet pursues their secondary employment during the sick leave period in order to collect twice: both the continued payment of wages from one employer and the regular salary from the second job. Such behaviour can hardly be escalated further than by secondary employment with a direct competitor, whereby the company of the primary employment is damaged not only financially but additionally by the illegal disclosure of sensitive internal data. In such cases, too, our Bochum detectives are usually able to obtain evidence admissible in court against the disloyal employees and thus provide affected employers with the means to assert claims for damages and other further consequences (whether through court proceedings or an out-of-court settlement (see also our article on the subject of notarised acknowledgement of debt)).

Are You Affected? Our Detective Agency From Bochum Is At Your Service Day And Night – Nationwide And Worldwide

If you have a substantiated suspicion in your company that an employee is pursuing an unauthorised secondary employment or that their second job is negatively affecting the quality of their work, do not hesitate to contact our detective agency in Bochum. By observing the employee in question, our investigators establish whether the employee is in fact violating their employment or collective agreement and thereby causing potentially significant damage to your company. For questions and concerns, please contact our IHK-certified specialist detectives on the following number: +49 234 3075 0073.

Author: Maya Grünschloß, PhD

 

Kurtz Detective Agency Bochum

Kohlenstraße 55

44795 Bochum

Tel.: +49 234 3075 0073

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

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