Executives · HR managers · Operational managers · Lawyers
Employee investigations in France
Investigate unexplained absences, outside work and misuse of company vehicles. INVESTIPOLE plans proportionate employee checks with a confidential, clear brief.
Confidential exchange · free quotation · Objectives and means defined before any intervention
A benefit for employers
Check the activity, inform your decisions
An employee seems to be working for a competitor. You need specific elements before deciding.
Employee activity monitoring aligns contractual obligations with verifiable facts. Your private investigation agency examines inconsistencies, the available documentation and the purpose of your request.
Your detectives all have at least 10 years of experience. Assigned to your case, this expertise supports the cross-checking of observations. Investipole specialises in professional activity investigations, with nearly 20 years of field practice. Cross-checking can also dismiss a suspicion that the findings do not confirm.
From the facts available
What discrepancies should be checked?
A mission responds to a specific question. A decline in performance or personal disagreement is not sufficient to warrant oversight.
Schedules and reported interventions
Delays, unexplained absences, unrealized interventions or inconsistent attendance times require overlaps. Your detectives compare the elements transmitted to relevant professional time windows.
A difference in schedule does not, on its own, mean that working time is diverted.
Travel and professional expenses
A commercial tour, construction site or customer visit may present inconsistencies. Your private investigation agency brings announced destinations closer to the proofs available in a lawful setting.
Unexplained travel may have a legitimate professional reason. The investigation seeks to clarify the timeline, without automatically finding fraud at cost.
Competing activity or side job
You suspect services for a competitor, client solicitation or outside activity during paid hours. Your detectives are looking for facts that clarify the duty of loyalty.
A second job is not prohibited in principle. The contract, any exclusivity clause, and the maximum working hours must be examined. Cases of unfair competition and client poaching require a specific analysis.
Safety instructions and equipment
An alert concerns protective equipment, a handling procedure or the use of a professional vehicle. You are looking for findings located, not a general assessment of behaviour.
Supervision must take into account the instructions actually communicated, the resources provided, and the working conditions. Private use of company tools also falls under investigations into the misappropriation of company assets.
Picture of illustration: handling goods during loading.
Choosing the right investigation
Clarify your need before acting
Activity monitoring concerns the performance of work. A disappearance of stock calls for an investigation into an alleged theft by an employee. The expected findings are not the same.
A sick leave also requires a separate analysis. Your private detectives do not assess the employee’s health and do not replace the physician responsible for any follow-up examination.
Non-competing activity during sick leave does not automatically constitute a breach. The damage to the company must be demonstrated; the payment of additional compensation alone is not sufficient.
From your request to the report
A carefully built investigation
Your objective, the information already available and the procedure envisaged determine the means. Discreet monitoring is not a systematic response.
Define the professional question
You describe the function, applicable schedules, dated anomalies and expected result of the audit. Your detectives distinguish a documented fact, indirect information and hypothesis.
The contract, internal procedures and documents lawfully held serve as a starting point. It is not necessary to send medical data or personal exchanges.
Cross-check useful sequences
Your detectives document the relevant periods and facts within defined limits. The observation remains focused on relevant professional facts, with respect for privacy.
The elements that contradict suspicion are recorded. If discreet oversight is considered, your counsel will specifically examine its framework and the possible production of findings.
Present findings and prepare next steps
The report presents the dates, circumstances, observations and limitations. Your HR managers and your lawyer compare this information with other exhibits, then determine the appropriate follow-up.
Investipole distinguishes between investigative work and disciplinary decision. Your detectives do not impose any qualification of fault, no dismissal or agreement of departure.
Photo of illustration: motorbike travel during field observation.
An understandable chronology
Facts, not assumptions
An observed outing does not provide information on an entire day of work. A meeting does not in isolation prove a competing activity. Your detectives specify what has been found and what remains unknown.
Your report differs from the information provided, documents reviewed and direct observations. Schedules are interpreted in terms of the applicable schedule, authorizations and possible explanations.
This feedback helps your HR department to ask the right questions. You have a concrete basis to examine discrepancies, request explanations and prepare the next steps with your legal counsel.
- Dates and periods precisely identified
- Distinguished facts of interpretations
- Relevant information for the announced objective
- Contradictory limitations and observations reported
Labour law and privacy
A clear framework for each check
The status of private research officer does not exempt the employee from respecting his rights. The method and purpose must be examined together.
Justify and scale appropriately
Inform before the procedure
Distinguish surveillance and evidence
Respect personal data
An adapted mission begins with the choice of means compatible with your goal. Your lawyer appreciates the conditions for using the documents before any action based on the report.
Depending on the working situation
Adapt resources to the need
Activity control is not intended to replace management, security procedures or an appropriate internal investigation.
Remote work and digital tools
Connecting to a computer alone does not measure the work accomplished. Recognizable objectives and transparent checks allow first of all to examine deviations.
Permanent screen captures, recording of each hit and a continuously imposed webcam are not an acceptable method of surveillance. Your detectives do not offer spy software.
Video surveillance and geolocation
Cameras must pursue a specific objective, with the necessary information and formalities; permanent monitoring of the workplace is excluded.
Reporting harassment
A report calls for a structured internal investigation: hearings, relevant documents, confidentiality and version review. discreet surveillance does not replace this work.
Return for HR managers and lawyer
A report to decide based on facts
Your report brings together the issue under review, the audits performed and the findings in a readable timeline. Your lawyer can reconcile these elements with the contract, management data and employee explanations.
Document findings
Facts, circumstances, overlaps and limitations of the investigation are explained.
Check out the explanations
The documents complete the file and do not replace the exchange with the employee or the applicable procedure.
Appreciate the suitable follow-up
A predefined budget
What’s the cost for the check?
Useful time, time windows, mobility and committed means determine the quotation. A follow-up week is not required for each situation.
The fee schedule of a private detectiveFR provides billing references. The days, time windows, and resources covered by five days of investigation are defined in the contract. This reference does not imply continuous surveillance.
The quote details the services and any possible costs before your approval. You choose a defined investigation, with expected feedback, without billing related to finding a fault or a legal outcome.
Commissioner of Justice
Partner lawyers
IFAR training
Member CNSP-ARP
Expert partnersEmployers' questions
Employee check: your questions
Practical benchmarks for preparing a specific request. The contract, the facts and the collection framework remain critical.
Can you have an employee monitored by a private detective?
A check is possible under conditions: professional justification, proportionate means and compliance with information obligations. Your detectives first study the facts and checks available. Discrete supervision carried out without the employee's knowledge constitutes in principle unlawful proof; its judicial production falls within a specific assessment, not an automatic authorization.
What can an investigation into an employee's activity verify?
The applicable timetables, announced interventions, travel, use of professional means and possible competing activity can be examined. Your private detectives define the question to be checked. A check does not cover the entire life of the employee and does not turn a suspicion into a conclusion.
How to check an employee’s hours?
Start by bringing together the applicable schedule, the announced interventions and the professional data obtained regularly. Your detectives then look for useful overlaps. Flexible schedules, allowed breaks, travel and explanations of the employee are taken into account. An isolated observation does not allow to reconstitute the entire duration of the work.
Can a remote worker be checked?
Telework can be subject to justified, transparent and proportionate checks. Continuous webcam surveillance, systematic captures and software recording the hits are not suitable for this control. Investipole examines your need without offering a home intrusion or spyware on the computer.
Can an employee work for another company?
A combination of jobs can be allowed. The duty of loyalty, the legal durations and a possible exclusivity clause must be respected. An activity for a competitor or carried out during paid time requires a separate analysis. Your detectives document the facts; your lawyer appreciates the contractual obligations in question.
What to look for if an employee has a competing activity?
It is necessary to specify the suspected activity, the clients concerned, the periods, and the evidence already available. Meeting a person does not prove client diversion. An investigation into acts of unfair competition seeks findings that clarify the alleged breach, without presuming guilt.
Can a detective check an activity during sick leave?
An investigation can be conducted based on specific facts, without a medical diagnosis or check-up. Non-competing activity is not automatically wrongful: damage to the employer must be established. Additional pay alone is not sufficient to prove this. The method of observation and the use of documents must be reviewed with your lawyer.
Can you track an employee’s work vehicle?
A device may be used for certain professional purposes, with appropriate information, justification and safeguards. It cannot be used to monitor an employee continuously or to track their movements outside of work. Your detectives do not install clandestine trackers to circumvent these rules. The choice of methods takes into account less intrusive solutions.
Does an investigation lead to dismissal for misconduct?
No, no penalty is automatic. The established facts must be reconciled with the contract, explanations and disciplinary rules. Your lawyer appreciates a possible fault and delays. A breach of agreement remains a separate approach, based on free consent, without threat or pressure related to findings.
What’s the price for a detective checking an employee’s activity?
Hourly fees range between €90 and €120 excluding VAT depending on the assignment. Your free quote specifies the time windows, resources, reporting and any applicable expenses. The cost depends on the actual verification needs, not on a set number of days. Private investigation price benchmarksFR complement this initial outline.
What documents should be provided during the first meeting?
Prepare the role, hours, applicable obligations and dated anomalies, along with any professional documents you lawfully possess. The form allows you to submit your request; you can also contact Investipole by email at contact@investipole.fr. Avoid sending health data or private correspondence. Investipole specifies the necessary elements before proceeding with the analysis.
Your request, in complete confidentiality
Specify the facts to check
Explain the difference found, the periods involved and your objective. Investipole helps you determine a concrete request for investigation, with appropriate means and budget.
contact@investipole.fr 06 29 49 75 78
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