Employers · HR managers · Site managers · Social law advice
Private investigator for employee theft concerns
Suspect employee theft? INVESTIPOLE examines stock discrepancies, access and observable movements through discreet, proportionate workplace investigations.
Employee stealing: what to do?
Suspecting a position doesn't allow you to point fingers at someone.
An employee legitimately has stock, a vehicle, a cash register, a badge or a tool. The main challenge is to determine whether the item was taken, handed over and then misappropriated, used without authorisation, or simply moved for work purposes.
A hasty accusation costs a lot: dismissal judged without real and serious cause, social climate degraded, sometimes complaint for slanderous denunciation. Conversely, an tolerated theft is repeated. The investigation therefore starts from the function, procedures and objective elements, and also returns what contradicts the hypothesis of departure.
For nearly 20 years, Investipole has been supporting HR directors, executives and employment law lawyers on these cases. Your investigators all have at least 10 years of experience. The report then helps to decide: re-primand, warning, dismissal for misconduct or filing a complaint.
Before discreet surveillance
What signs justify investigating an employee?
The convergence of several elements justifies an analysis. A rumour, a personal conflict or a simple intuition is not enough.
Limited losses
References, days, teams or areas common to anomalies, without explanation by breakage, seizure or transport.
To prepare: inventories, value, frequency and traceability of the item.
Unusual operations
Cancellations, discounts, refunds, fee notes, stock exits or badges focused on the same person or niche.
To prepare: internal rules, authorisations and legitimately available logs.
Possible material removal
Bags, vehicles, wharves, parking lots, lockers or handed over to third parties compatible with losses.
To prepare: site plans, authorised access and time slots.
Frequent situations
Cash, goods, equipment, expenses: the item changes the analysis.
Your detectives describe the facts; the lawyer appreciates possible criminal qualifications (theft, abuse of trust, fraud) and disciplinary misconduct, under the supervision of the judge.
Goods and stock
Hidden products, parcels extracted from the flow, unsold recovered without authorization, goods sold online or to a third party.
Cash and money
Sale cashed without registration, false cancellation, fictitious repayment, collection of misappropriated cash, cheques or vouchers.
Tools and equipment
Equipment carried out, employed on private construction sites, rented, loaned or resold outside the company.
Expenses and payment methods
Business card, fuel card, supplier orders, inflated fee notes or vehicle used for personal purposes.
If the monitoring shows no exit, or if the cross-checking reveals a procedural error, the report says so. This outcome preserves the working relationship and avoids a sanction based on an assumption.
Output of goods from a logistics area — photo illustration Investipole.
Examine without causing
A useful photo tells a sequence, not an isolated act.
Wearing a package, loading a vehicle or keeping a tool can be perfectly professional. Your detectives place the gesture in its context: origin of the property, planned procedure, destination, repetition and possible surrender to a third party.
The report distinguishes what has been seen, what has been cross-checked and what remains unknown.
No test purchases, no staging: surveillance does not enter any private place and is limited to useful facts.
HR and probationary method
Proving an employee's theft while reducing procedural risks
The operation stops as soon as the objective is achieved, disproved or no longer justifies the resources involved.
Confidential analysis
Function, seniority, procedures, access, documents available, harm and objective are studied with a limited circle, often HR managers and counsel.
Targeting time windows
Inventories, schedules and flows refer to periods when a finding can actually answer the question asked.
Observation and tailing
Visible exits, discounts, uses or resales are documented in public space, without entering a private place or resorting to a scheme.
Report and HR follow-up
The chronology shall be handed over to the employer and his board, who shall assess the qualification, the two-month period, the layoff and the appropriate penalty.
Labour law and evidence
Dismissal for theft: what the judge checks
Theft committed by an employee is often considered gross misconduct, but not automatically. Judges take into account the value of the property, length of service, absence of prior incidents, and the duties carried out. Gross negligence requires more: the intention to harm the employer, distinct from mere personal gain.
Describes the facts
Schedules, places, gestures, visible objects, travel and rehearsals, without peremptory qualification.
Follows the procedure
Prior maintenance, deadlines, rules of procedure, collective agreement and data protection.
Evaluates the evidence
Balance of rights, probative value of the documents, seriousness of the fault and proportionality of the sanction.
Investigation cases
Employee theft: four anonymised investigations
These examples illustrate a method, never a guaranteed result.
Logistics · Packages
Goods hidden at the back of a lorry
A distributor notes that some references disappear during the preparation of the tours. When compared to the schedules, the gaps are concentrated on a few time windows.
Limited surveillance documents an employee who removes packages from the normal flow, hides them in a bag, places them in a vehicle, and then gives them to a third party. Visible objects, schedules, locations and movements are specified, without entering the home or causing the operation.
The employer confronts these facts with inventories, exit warrants and access rights. His lawyer appreciates the qualification and social procedure, while the company secures the dock.
Trade · Caisse
Fake refunds follow peak hours
A sign detects an unusual frequency of non-product returns to a cashier's station. Legally available newspapers refer to useful days.
The observations show normal cash receipts, then cancellations made after the departure of customers. No test purchase or scheme is used. The company brings the findings together with its cash data and validation procedures.
The report does not pronounce fraud or serious misconduct; the material chronology that was missing is now established. HR managers and Council then determine the explanations to be collected and the follow-up consistent with disciplinary rules.
Maintenance · Tools
Equipment used for paid private jobs
A company notes late returns and accelerated wear and tear of specialized equipment. A targeted mission follows only useful business trips.
Several interventions with private individuals are noted with the vehicle and tools of the company. Schedules, accessible addresses and recognizable materials are recorded, without filming inside the houses.
The Board reviews the unauthorized use of returned property, outside activity and injury separately. The findings are also used to review loan forms, tooling inventories and validation of exits.
Warehouse · Dismissed soup
The named employee is not responsible for the losses
Recurrent disappearances seem to coincide with the presence of a recently recruited preparer. Surveillance does not reveal any suspicious exit or surrender.
The chronology shows that the deviations appear after service, when a temporary transfer is not properly traced. The mission is stopped, and the report clearly excludes all facts attributable to the employee.
The employer avoids an unjustified confrontation, secures the transit area and extends the audit to the receiving procedures. A proportionate investigation must be able to refute the initial hypothesis with the same accuracy.
Related situations
Put the alleged theft in its operational context
Goods, fuel, vehicle or delivered equipment do not call for the same overlaps or findings.
Everywhere in France
Multiple sites, a single coordinated investigation
An employee can travel between commercial agency, depot, construction site, customer's home and partner site. Investipole organizes the field relays within a single mission framework.
The final report brings together useful sequences for management, HR managers and counsel.
What HR managers are asking for
Employee theft: the essentials
General answers, to be adapted to the contract, collective agreement and facts with your lawyer.
Employee stealing: what to do?
Discreetly collect the objective elements, avoid any public accusation and consult your lawyer before summoning. A lay-off may remove the employee during the proceedings. When internal documents remain insufficient, a targeted investigation can establish the facts.
How to prove an employee’s theft?
Through a set of elements: inventory discrepancies, receipts and cash registers, witnesses, video of a device made known to employees, findings from your detectives. The report can be submitted in court; the judge assesses its value.
Dismissal for theft without proof: what’s the risk?
The dismissal is likely to be judged without real and serious cause, with compensation at the key. For a serious fault, the burden of proof weighs on the employer, and doubt benefits the employee.
Theft at work: serious or gross misconduct?
In general serious misconduct: immediate departure, without notice or compensation for dismissal. Heavy fault requires a will to harm the employer, distinct from personal enrichment. For a low-value robbery by an old employee, without previous history, judges sometimes rule out serious misconduct.
Dismissal for theft: what are the unemployment rights?
The right is maintained: a dismissal, even for serious or heavy misconduct, is in principle entitled to the benefit of aid for return to employment, under the usual conditions of affiliation.
Accusation of theft at work: what risks for the employer?
An unfounded accusation, even if it is disseminated internally, is subject to defamation or even slanderous denunciation if the perpetrator knew the facts were incorrect. A dismissal based on an unestablished theft may be tried without a real and serious cause.
Mutual termination after a theft: is it possible?
Yes, if the employee freely consents. The agreement must never be presented as an alternative to a complaint or dismissal: consent obtained under pressure is liable to nullity.
How much does an investigation for employee theft cost?
The pricing of a private detective for theft committed by an employee ranges from €90 to €120 excluding VAT per hour excluding tax, depending on several criteria, with a free quote. Expect nearly €975 per day excluding tax, or €4,750 excluding tax all-inclusive for five days of intervention. Full schedule: cost of a private detectiveFR.
Confidential consultation
Show the losses and access. Not the conclusions.
Employee role, concerned items, dates, amounts, access and already gathered documents are sufficient for an initial opinion. Your detectives translate these elements into precise investigative questions and useful time windows. Write to contact@investipole.fr.
Have the file reviewed free quotation · Confidentiality · Disciplinary time taken into account