Celebrating with Erfurt Ultras While on Sick Leave – Fraudulent Continuation of Pay in Thuringia

An ultra who misses a match because he has to work?

Nothing stops an ultra from supporting their team – not even incapacity for work. The term “playing hooky due to illness” fits this case particularly well, as the support provided by ultras at football matches typically includes more than just positive elements like chants, banners, choreographies or protest demonstrations. Most followers of this fan scene see a match as an event and a holiday, which involves alcohol and, particularly in Eastern Germany, sometimes riots, pyrotechnics and violence. The following case study concerns exactly such events, in which Kurtz Investigations Erfurt and Thuringia were instructed by a businessman from Arnstadt to investigate an employee suspected of feigning ongoing incapacity for work, as he, a committed Erfurt ultra, absolutely did not want to miss the Thuringia Cup final on 28 May 2016 between Rot-Weiß Erfurt and Carl Zeiss Jena.

Regular short-term sick notes and a match with everything: derby, final, DFB Cup

The subject of our Erfurt detectives had in the past repeatedly submitted short-term sick notes around Rot-Weiß Erfurt matches, particularly when rescheduled or arranged at short notice. Our client from Arnstadt had a fairly clear suspicion that he was being deceived. He was fully convinced that his allegedly disloyal employee would not miss the cup final under any circumstances, as it was not only a chance to win a title but also a derby against the arch-rival and a qualification hurdle for the first round of the DFB Cup, where large draws and thus potentially significant revenues awaited against opponents such as Borussia Dortmund or FC Bayern. The employer therefore sensed a perfect opportunity to expose the employee, whose behaviour had long been a thorn in his side.

 

Normally, the ultra would only take a sick day on the match day itself or at most one or two days before or after, but this time the HR department received the sick note already on Wednesday (the subject had Monday and Tuesday off), although the match was scheduled for Saturday. On the same day, the managing director arranged with our Erfurt detective agency to begin surveillance of the suspect the following day, Thursday.

A pleasant day by the lake – in itself no proof of faked illness

In addition to its innovative economy, Thuringia offers residents an attractive environment: the state’s nature and national parks are popular for day trips, the Thuringian Slate Mountains and the Rennsteig trail running across the Thuringian Forest invite hiking, and rivers such as the Saale, Werra, Ilm, and Unstrut are open for fishing. Near Erfurt, there are not only the prominent Drei Gleichen castles by the A4 but also the “Erfurt Lakes” region and the Hohenfelden reservoir, where the music festival “Highfield” used to take place (now near Leipzig). On the morning of the first surveillance day, the subject of our Thuringia commercial detectives drove to a lake and entered a wooded area by the shore. Following the sick employee directly would have been too dangerous, as any vehicle on the rarely used forest path would immediately be noticed in the rearview mirror. Therefore, the detectives monitored the access road, checked online for other exit routes (none existed), and agreed that one of the Erfurt detectives would enter the forest on foot to locate the subject.

 

After some time, the detective found the parked car in a small clearing; a few metres away, the subject lay completely naked by the water, sunbathing that Thursday under intermittent cloud cover. The Thuringia private investigator informed his colleague waiting in the vehicle that he would now search for a suitable observation point. Finding a vantage point proved difficult; they even considered positioning on the opposite bank to use a telephoto lens, but this was rejected after consulting the operations centre due to the danger of becoming trapped while the subject left. Instead, our Erfurt commercial detective eventually found a tree crown, which allowed him to observe the subject, albeit with some obstruction from branches and foliage. During the day, the sick employee appeared to do little beyond sleeping, watching films or series on a tablet, masturbating in a barely sheltered dip, and swimming multiple times in the icy lake. Around 5:00 pm, the subject returned home and did not leave the apartment again that day.

Extended “match day”: early drinking the day before

Apparently, this early sick note served as a small rest day before the demands of the upcoming football event, as the next morning at 9:00 am a man wearing an Erfurt fan T-shirt arrived at the door, and both went to a fan pub for an early drink, extending their visit into the afternoon and evening until the subject of our Erfurt commercial detectives was driven home by his wife at around 11:30 pm, heavily intoxicated.

 

On match day, the ultra met other fans near Erfurt main station in the morning, consumed beer, and chanted slogans before travelling with around 600 supporters by train to Jena, where the cup final was scheduled for 5:00 pm at the not fully sold-out Ernst-Abbe-Sportfeld (RWE had only received a ticket allocation of 1,200). To avoid detection, our Thuringia detectives disguised themselves in Rot-Weiß Erfurt fan attire, maintaining visual contact with the subject even as the group was escorted by police to the stadium.

 

Three detectives were assigned: two to monitor the exit of visiting fans to reacquire sight of the subject leaving the stadium, and a third, with a ticket for the main stand provided by the Kurtz Investigations Erfurt and Thuringia operations centre, to identify the sick employee in the visiting block from a neutral outfit and document his clearly non-recovering actions. Ninety minutes or more, in the case of extra time, allowed ample opportunity to locate the subject in the crowd, though visibility was hindered by flares and smoke bombs in the visiting section, causing a delayed kickoff.

Drinking and partying during sick leave

During the match, both Erfurt and Jena fans continued setting off pyrotechnics. The game itself was slow and uninspiring. Carl Zeiss Jena scored two late goals to win the cup for the third consecutive time, much to the frustration of Rot-Weiß Erfurt, and possibly securing a multimillion-euro DFB Cup opportunity. From a distance, our detective documented how the subject enthusiastically joined in the chants and consumed considerable amounts of beer apparently smuggled in illegally. After the second conceded goal, the ultra appeared shocked; Rot-Weiß Erfurt was a league above their arch-rival, who had failed to earn promotion by 24 points. When the Erfurt team approached the travelling supporters after the match, a few club scarves were burned. Fortunately, the fans returned relatively peacefully to the station and went home. There was no “after-match party” for the subject; clearly frustrated and heavily intoxicated again, he was collected by his wife at the main station and taken straight home.

 

At this point, the Thuringia detective team ended surveillance, as the evidence gathered was overwhelming. The Arnstadt company’s managing director received the legally admissible investigative report the following Monday and summoned the subject to the office the next working day (Wednesday) to “give the deceitful employee a talking-to,” as he put it, and hand over the immediate termination notice.

Legally Admissible Investigations in Thuringia: Available to You Too

The IHK-certified detectives of Kurtz Investigations Erfurt and Thuringia conduct investigations for private individuals and businesses regionally, nationally, and internationally. We maintain excellent contacts with authorities, detective agencies, and former police and intelligence personnel both domestically and abroad, enabling rapid and effective cross-border operations.

 

We are happy to take on your assignment. Call us for a non-binding consultation (+49 361 2243 0020) or send an email with a case description to kontakt@kurtz-detektei-erfurt.de.

To maintain discretion and protect the privacy of clients and subjects, all names and locations in this case report have been completely anonymised.

 

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