by admin_lauth | Nov 29, 2016 | Corporate Investigations, Tips & Facts
Human Resources has a tough job when it comes to screening future employees. They’re betting on someone whom they’ve only met in person maybe three times. Not every candidate can be a winner, but that doesn’t mean you should accept the losers.
Every business takes on some level of risk when they bring on a new-hire, but how serious is employee theft? The 2015 US Retail Fraud Survey says, “Overall the biggest area of store loss remains employee theft with 38% of respondents citing it as the number one area of store loss and, across first, second and third highest causes of loss, scoring 59 points.” Here are some ways Human Resources can better vet employees and prevent future theft.
Ask tough questions throughout the interview process
Interviewing job candidates is the best chance you’ll get to learn who they are before hiring them. Take advantage of these opportunities to ask candidates tough questions about their past. This may seem like an obvious tip, but it’s one many people can find difficult to execute.
People can be surprisingly candid about things they’ve done in the past and may be more open than one would expect. In these moments of truth human resources is given the opportunity to evaluate the honesty of the candidate.
Follow-up with multiple references
There’s a reason every business asks for multiple references when considering candidates for a position. After you’ve interview a candidate face-to-face you’ll have a better idea of who they are and what questions you still have about them. Following up with a candidate’s references can be very illuminating.
Calling just one or two of the references should not be seen as enough. Every candidate should supply at least three references to be considered for employment. These should be professional references, not friends or family. Call at least three references when considering any candidate.
Use a Private Investigations firm to help
Human Resources departments only have so much manpower they can put towards vetting employees. With all of the duties HR handles it increases the chances that someone will slip through the cracks and get hired when they shouldn’t have.
You might not need them for every candidate, but Private Investigation firms can help any business be certain about the people they’re hiring. When businesses are expanding they may need to hire people rapidly. Instead of asking HR to do more with less, contact a private investigations firm and see how they can help shoulder the load.
For Private Investigation Inquiry contact Thomas Lauth, Lauth Investigations 317-951-1100
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Nov 29, 2016 | Personal Investigations, Tips & Facts
What good is a child custody agreement if you’re unable to have it properly enforced? Everyone expects or at least hopes the agreement will be respected by both parties, but that isn’t always the case. When you suspect child custody agreement violations and potential abuse, you need to document them and keep records. That may sound like a lot, but here are tips to make keeping records a little easier.
Take pictures
The easiest way to document violations and abuse is by using the camera on your phone to take pictures. If you think you see bruises, cuts, or marks on your child then you should be taking pictures of them. Photographic evidence is some of the strongest evidence one can have.
Timestamps will tell you the date and time the picture was taken. By default most phones have timestamps on every picture they take, but make sure your’s does too. If it doesn’t have timestamps then go into the app store on your phone and find an app that does it. It won’t be hard.
Write down notes and details in a journal or notebook
The details are important in cases of child custody agreement violations and abuse. No matter how good your memory is, recording as much information as soon after it happens as possible will help in court. If you write about the events and pair them with the timestamped photographs it will bolster credibility.
Back-up your data
When are records useless? When they don’t exist. You must back-up all of your data and records. No one thinks it will happen to them, but one power surge and your hard drive is fried. One slip and your phone is shattered on the pavement. Backing-up your files requires little to no extra effort and can be automated on most devices.
If you’re taking pictures on an iPhone, make sure your saving the photos to iCloud. If something happens to your phone you’ll be able to download the photos to a new one or to a computer. On Android and iPhone you can plug your phone into your computer and back it up to the computer’s hard drive. Back-up your data at least once a week and anytime you’re saving something of particular importance.
Hire a private investigator
Proving violations of the agreement and abuse can be difficult. Depending on how often you get to see your child or the time you need to work each week, your ability to track everything your ex is doing might be limited. How can you prove your children are being taken places they’re not allowed to be at?
Private investigators have nothing but time for their clients and can document everything while keeping an eye on your children. If anything happens that violates your custody agreement then it will be documented. If there is abuse happening you will get the proof you need for court. PIs can be your eyes and ears and help you protect your children.
For Private Investigation Inquiry contact Thomas Lauth, Lauth Investigations 317-951-1100
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
by admin_lauth | Nov 11, 2016 | Private Investigations News, Tips & Facts
The Family Medical Leave Act protects employees positions from termination in the event they have to take time off to care for a sick family member. According to FMLASource as much as 10.7% of the U.S. workforce is on FMLA leave at any given time. While countless employees have benefited from FMLA, others have taken advantage of the program for their own gain. FMLA fraud costs business million. Here’s how you can stop it.
Require proof
If an employee needs to use the FMLA then they should always be required to provide proof of the medical problem causing them to take leave. Workers can take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave under FMLA so it’s fair for companies to require employees provide adequate proof. Make sure you comply with state and federal regulations governing what medical records you legally can and can’t ask an employee to provide.
Familiarize employees on FMLA
Is enforcing the Family Medical Leave Act difficult? Not if you have a good team of informed employees. Supervisors being educated about FMLA will make abuse more difficult because the supervisors will know what to look for and how to respond. It will also save time since supervisors will be able to answer employee questions themselves. Keeping other employees informed about FMLA will clear up confusion about what is required for someone to go on leave. Consider training for employees on FMLA.
Take FMLA seriously
Creating an environment that appreciates the seriousness of FLMA will show employees the importance of treating the program with respect. Companies cannot allow FMLA to be treated as a way to get easy time off. Take potential FLMA abuse seriously. Report fraud to the proper authorities and investigate further as needed. It’s unfair to employees and the company when people take advantage of programs like FLMA. It makes it more difficult for honest employees to receive it and costs businesses millions of dollars.
Keep records organized
Kevin McCarthy from the Kalamazoo Human Resource Management Association said, “Many certifications for intermittent leave list the period of the need for the leave as ‘indefinite’ or ‘permanent.’ ..the employee will never have to ask for an extension of the intermittent leave. Unless the employer receives good information that the individual’s medical circumstances have changed significantly or that the need for an intermittent leave is no longer valid, the employee will never have to submit a recertification. In the types of abusive situations discussed above, this is a major problem…”
Employees may only ever file for FMLA once but will remain eligible for the benefits indefinitely. Employers must stay on top of who is and is not certified and for how long. Spread sheets can be particularly helpful for this task. Organizing all of your employees FMLA records into one place will make it easy to quickly identify who is eligible and for how long.
by admin_lauth | Nov 7, 2016 | Tips & Facts
What is malingering? Malingering is defined by Merriam-Webster as, “to pretend to be sick or injured in order to avoid doing work.” The most famous malingerer might be Ferris Bueller, but while he only cost his friend’s dad money buying a new car, malingering Americans cost billions of dollars a year. According to a study available in the US National Library of Medicine, malingering adult mental disorder claimants costs were $20 billion in 2011. Below are some ways you can nip malingering in the bud.
Apply standards consistently
In order to make sure employees understand expectations and don’t feel singled out, standards and practices have to be enforced consistently. If you make one employee get a doctor’s note after calling in sick then you need to make every employee do the same. Medical issues are a sensitive topic and companies can get into hot water if an employee feels they’re being treated unfairly due to their health. Consider printing out a guide explaining expectations and having employees sign a sheet acknowledging they received one so there’s no confusion if this becomes an issue.
Ask for proof
If an employee is having bad enough medical issues to miss work then they should see a doctor to find out what’s going. Getting sick for a day isn’t uncommon, but when a medical issue regularly prevents an employee from working, something needs to be done. It’s not unfair for an employer to ask for documentation of the problem.
Knowing ahead of time that proof will be required when they come back to work will help deter malingering and prevent excuses about why they couldn’t provide proof. Even if you trust the employee, always get documentation for company records and to ensure consistently applied standards.
Be accommodating to employees needs
Even if you suspect an employee is malingering, be open to accommodating their needs. If they are malingering then they’ll lack excuses for not working when the company shows it’s ready and willing to work with them. If they’re not malingering then the company will have already done the right thing by creating an accommodating and inclusive environment. Making it tougher for employees to excuse their lack of work actually makes it easier for employees with genuine issues to work.
Be patient whether they’re faking it or not
Determining if an employee is malingering can take time. One of the most famous cases of malingering is the 1927 Bruneri-Canella. Brunei, a petty thief and con-man, pretended he had amnesia and was mistakenly identified as an Italian professor that went missing in World War I. The thief kept up his charade for years even pretending not to remember his family despite them identifying him. Eventually a court determined he was faking it. Patience is needed because if an employee is faking it, eventually they’ll be caught, but if they’re being honest, rushing to judgement is a big mistake.
Investigate
When an employee continues to claim they’re having medical issues, but you suspect something is off, contact a private investigator to look into the matter. It’s never fun to accuse someone of lying, but it’s a lot less fun to lose money to a scammer. Private investigators will be able to quickly find out if the employee is malingering or genuinely having problems.
by admin_lauth | Nov 2, 2016 | Corporate Investigations, Tips & Facts
Is an employee selling drugs from their job? What are signs of drug trafficking in the workplace? What can human resources do to stop drug dealing at work? These are questions every business owner and human resources department should be asking themselves before contacting a private investigator.
Why is an employee meeting with people in the parking lot on break?
It’s common for drug deals to happen in cars. It makes for a quick and private way to do an exchange in plain sight. In the backseat of car, on break from work, is where Jade Violes sold heroin while working at a Pizza Hut in Indiana.
In 2015, Violes was arrested for selling heroin after an undercover police officer purchased from her in the Pizza Hut parking lot. If an employee is meeting with people in cars during work hours it’s not unreasonable to suspect they may be selling drugs.
Why do employees keep meeting in the bathroom?
Do employees sell drugs in the bathroom at work? At the Senate mail room in Pennsylvania they did. This past March two employees of the Pennsylvania Senate were charged with crimes related to the distribution of heroin. A third employee was also fired from their job in connection to the drug peddling.
Police were alerted to the crimes when an employee not involved in the inter-office drug trade found 20 packets of heroin in the bathroom. Corey Miller was charged with possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance after police found eight more packets of heroin in his wallet. Bathrooms can offer privacy to employees that some find too tempting to resist exploiting.
How can they afford all that stuff?
Does driving a fancy car mean someone is selling drugs? What about buying a new big screen TV and the latest smart phone? What if an employee is doing all of this and more? If this is the case then you may want to call an investigator.
Human resources departments know how much an employee earns from their job. If an employee is suddenly showing up in expensive clothes with fancy accessories and they haven’t picked up a second job then something could be up. It’s one thing to live outside your means, but there are limits to how much one can acquire on credit alone.
We recently fired an employee for using drugs at work. Could there be more?
Was an employee recently fired for using drugs at work? Were they the only person using on the job? Were they buying drugs at work? These are questions every human resources department should be asking when an employee is caught using drugs on the job.
Some businesses believe the nature of their work precludes them from having drug dealers in their midst, but that’s a mistake. It may be easy to write-off drug dealing from Pizza Hut, but it’s tougher when someone like 53-year-old James Peter Kranyecz gets busted selling marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine from the church he worked at.
We caught an employee bringing drugs to work. Were they the only one?
Catch an employee with a small amount of drugs? Don’t just assume it was for personal use. The packaging and quantity of drugs should be taken note of when considering what to do next. Did the employee bring drugs on-site for personal use or were they distributing to coworkers? Was the employee acting alone or with their coworkers?
Earlier this year five United States Postal workers were arrested after conspiring to help distribute marijuana through the postal system. First, the postal workers gave their work schedules and routes to a drug dealer. Then the dealer timed when he mailed the drugs to make sure they ended up in the postal workers’ hands. According to News 5 Cleveland, Michael Tobin of the US Attorney’s Office said, “These are folks who had jobs, decent jobs as mail carriers, and they threw it all away for $200, $300, $400 of cash.”
For Private Investigation Inquiry contact Thomas Lauth, Lauth Investigations 317-951-1100
David Schroeder, Blog Writer, Lauth Investigations International
