Unauthorised Secondary Employment

Is one of your employees frequently stressed, overtired, and unfocused? They may be working a (secret) second job that impacts their performance. The IHK-certified corporate investigators of the Kurtz Detective Agency Mannheim and Rhine-Neckar provide court-admissible clarification of such matters: +49 621 9535 4001.

Performance Decline and Further Consequences

In times of loan obligations, part-time contracts, and low-paying mini-jobs, employees often feel they have no choice but to take on secondary employment in order to make ends meet. As an employer, you naturally expect full performance from your staff; however, a second job carries the risk that the employee becomes exhausted between both positions and can no longer fulfil their primary duties. Furthermore, flexibility regarding working hours and potential overtime is significantly reduced by a second job.

Many employees nevertheless take up side employment without informing their employer. During hours intended for rest—after work, at weekends, or during holidays—they carry out their secondary job. As a result, their body and mind have no opportunity to recover, leading to reduced performance and/or sick leave for recuperation. In many cases, unauthorised secondary employment is also undeclared and therefore illegal—the reasons being the desire to remain unnoticed or to avoid statutory deductions.

Our corporate investigators for Kaiserslautern, Mannheim, and the entire Rhine-Neckar region pursue your suspicions and, when confirmed, provide legally valid evidence of the unauthorised secondary activity. Please send your enquiry to kontakt@kurtz-detektei-mannheim.de or contact our commercial investigation unit by telephone.

Second Job with a Competitor

Employees who take on secondary employment often do so within the same industry. This is not necessarily malicious—frequently it is simply because employees can best apply their expertise in familiar fields. Nonetheless, a second job for a competitor is generally not in the interest of the primary employer. Legislators side clearly with employers in this matter, treating competitive secondary employment without explicit authorisation as a breach of contractual loyalty duties.

The main issue lies in the inherent conflict of interest. There is always the risk that the employee may—whether intentionally or unintentionally—“spill the beans” and pass on internal company information to the competitor.

Industrial Espionage Through Employee Infiltration

The leakage of sensitive corporate data does not necessarily occur accidentally through dual employment—it can also be intentionally orchestrated. Companies from East Asia, as well as many European firms, are known to place infiltrators inside competing companies. Other employees—even long-term ones—may deliberately sell internal information to competitors in exchange for compensation, without having been specifically planted. In such cases, the employer suffers not only from the reduced performance of the employee but also from the competitive advantage gained by the rival company through access to internal information.

In all such scenarios, rapid intervention is essential, potentially including legally enforced termination of the secondary employment or even the primary employment relationship itself. Through targeted surveillance, our experienced Mannheim commercial detectives are generally able to document the unauthorised secondary job in a court-admissible investigation report. To instruct us, please use our contact form or call us for a non-binding consultation: +49 621 9535 4001.