Can a private investigator captures a short “snippet” of surveillance video of a disabled worker who’s having a “good day” and use it to disqualify the worker from the benefits he’s rightly due?

Nope.

Okay, so why not?

First of all the P.I. doesn’t have any say in whether or not a claimant get benefits. Any surveillance video the P.I. collects is presented to the client. The client then has it reviewed by doctors and lawyers to determine if there is a case for denying the benefits (or maybe even outright worker’s compensation fraud!).

After looking at ALL the evidence (including medical exams, accident reports, etc.), if the doctors and lawyers think there’s a reason to deny benefits, they will bring the case to court.

Then the claimant is notified and her or she has the opportunity to make their case (including doctor’s reports and testimony, accident reports, etc.).

After all of that, a judge will make the final decision. Well, usually a judge. In some cases a jury will decide. But, either way, you can see… the P.I. is a small part of the larger process.

Here’s the other thing…

The private investigator will be asked (under oath!), “Is this video an accurate representation of the subject’s behavior”? And the P.I. must answer truthfully.

The investigator can’t pick and choose the video that the client gets. If the investigator films 90 minutes of the subject in a wheelchair and 30 seconds of the subject upright to get into a car, the investigator must include ALL the video with his report and not just the 30 seconds of the subject upright!

Here’s the bottom line…

Act ethically!

Your job as a P.I. is to collect the evidence. You are not to “color” or try to skew the evidence. Remember, your job is to help find the TRUTH in any given case.

It’s like I always say, “Do the right thing, even if it’s the hard thing”.

Do I have to make it even more simple? How about this…

“Thou shall not steal”.

If you are trying to take legitimately due disability money from an injured worker, then you are blatantly violating the commandant “Thou shall not steal”. Period.

Do you have a worker’s compensation or disability case you want to share about? Leave a comment below!

Committed to your success,
Larry Kaye, P.I.

P.S. – Don’t miss my special report titled… If You Want To be a Private Investigator Give Up… Unless You Do These Three Things. You can get it on the home page of my blog.