Served & Found
Hurt at work in Buckeye? What claim surveillance can and can't do
If you have an open injury claim and you live out around Buckeye, you may have noticed the same unfamiliar car on your road twice in a week. On a street in Tempe nobody would care. On a dirt road west of town, where a handful of vehicles pass in an hour, people notice.
Sometimes that car is nothing. Sometimes it is a private investigator hired to check on an injury claim. This piece explains when that happens in Arizona, what they are and are not allowed to do, and what it means for you and your claim.
Why a claim gets watched
In Arizona, workers' compensation is overseen by the Industrial Commission of Arizona (the ICA). The ICA does not pay your claim. Insurance carriers and employers approved to insure themselves do, and the ICA regulates them. Once your injury is reported, the carrier decides whether to accept or deny the claim.
Surveillance usually comes later, once the claim is open and someone has a question about whether your activity matches the restrictions on file. It is ordered by the carrier, the employer's lawyer or a claims administrator, not by the ICA. The same thing can happen in a personal injury case against a driver or a business.
Being watched does not mean anyone thinks you are lying. Many surveillance reports simply confirm the injury: a person moving stiffly, avoiding lifting, sitting down to rest. That kind of report helps you.
What they can lawfully record
A licensed private investigator in Arizona can film what anyone could see from a public road, a public place, or property where they have permission to be. Around Buckeye that might be:
- you leaving the house, and where you go
- loading the truck at a feed store or a home improvement store
- yard work, fence repair or working on a vehicle in plain view of the road
- what looks like a second job
Out here the footage is often taken from a long way back, on the days you go out, so it tends to show a few moments rather than your whole week.
What they can't do
The limits are real, and they protect you.
They can't come onto your land once you have told them to leave, or past a posted sign. Remaining on someone's property after a reasonable request to leave, or after notice that entry is prohibited, is criminal trespass under A.R.S. 13-1502. A long driveway or a locked ranch gate is your property.
They can't record your conversations. Arizona's interception statute, A.R.S. 13-3005, makes it a felony to intercept a conversation without the consent of someone taking part in it. That is why claim surveillance video usually has no sound.
They can't secretly film you inside your home in the private situations A.R.S. 13-3019 protects, such as undressing or in the bathroom.
They can't put a tracker on your car. Arizona's stalking law, A.R.S. 13-2923, lists using a GPS or other electronic device to surveil a specific person without authorization as part of a course of conduct.
They can't set you up. If someone you don't know invents a reason to get you lifting or carrying, write down the date, time and what was said, and tell your lawyer.
If you think you are being watched
Don't confront anyone. Don't block a road, follow the car or post photos of it online. If you feel unsafe, call 911 or the local police non-emergency line. A private investigator doing lawful work has no reason to object to that call.
Write down what you saw: date, time, vehicle, and plate if you could read it safely. Give that note to your lawyer.
Then carry on with your life within the limits your doctor set. The simplest protection against surveillance is a medical record that matches what you actually do. If your restrictions are out of date, because you have improved or because you have not, ask your doctor to update them rather than working around them.
Your rights if a decision goes against you
Surveillance footage sometimes leads a carrier to reduce or close benefits. If that happens you will receive a written notice, and you can protest it. The ICA's handbook for injured workers explains that you have 90 days from the date of a Notice of Claim Status to file a request for hearing, and that the decision becomes final if you miss that window. At a hearing, your side gets to respond to whatever the carrier relies on, including video.
Put the date of any notice in your phone the day it arrives. A workers' compensation attorney can tell you whether the footage actually contradicts your restrictions, which it often does not.
Hiring your own private investigator
Sometimes the injured person needs a private investigator too: to find a coworker who saw the accident and has since moved, to photograph an unsafe site before it is changed, or to identify a driver in a separate injury case. That work is usually arranged through your lawyer so the findings fit your case.
Before you hire anyone, check the license through the Arizona DPS Public Services Portal, ask whether they have testified before, and get the scope and fee in writing. Our guide to what a private investigator does covers the general limits.
Every private investigator listed on Served & Found in Arizona is a member of the Arizona Association of Licensed Private Investigators. You can browse private investigators in Buckeye or the full Buckeye page. For a different kind of family worry, our piece on custody cases after a move to Buckeye covers what can lawfully be documented there.
This is general information, not legal advice. If you have an open claim, the most useful thing in your file is a current copy of your work restrictions, so ask your doctor for one at the next visit.
See the board: everyone in Buckeye · private investigators only.