For many years now it has been common practice for maritime companies to hire private investigators to obtain videotape surveillance on injured employees. Very often this videotape surveillance will begin almost immediately after the employee has suffered a work-related injury. There are at least three main reasons that a company obtains videotape surveillance of an injured employee.

The first main reason that a maritime company obtains videotape surveillance in defending a claim relates to showing whether or not the injured employee is truly injured. If the injured employee is shown performing heavy activities or strenuous work on the videotape, this evidence can hurt or even ruin his claim. Certainly if the employee is representing to the company and his physicians that he cannot perform certain activities, yet videotape surveillance shows the employees performing these very activities, the employee is clearly misrepresenting the nature and degree of his injury. In such a situation, the company will be able to use this videotape surveillance to disprove the employee's degree of injury.

The second reason many companies obtain videotape surveillance of an injured employee relates to whether or not the employee is being honest with the company. Even though the employee may not be shown performing very heavy or strenuous activities on the videotape, if the employee continues to deny that he participated in such activities even after the videotape is obtained, this evidence can show that the employee is being dishonest in regard to his level of activities.

In this situation, it is not necessarily the strenuous nature of the activities which will harm the employee's claim. Rather, it is the fact that the employee continues to deny having participated in such activities even when videotape surveillance clearly shows that the employee participated in these activities even while injured. It is always best for an injured employee to fully admit any and all activities of which they are capable regardless of whether these activities are strenuous or not.

A third reason many maritime companies obtain videotape surveillance on injured employees relates to a more "human" function of the videotape. When a maritime injury claim is tried in court, one of the main goals of the trial is to convey to the jury or judge that the injured employee's life has been substantially changed as a result of the injury. Very often videotape will show the employee performing regular activities of life including playing with his children and running routine errands such as purchasing groceries or filling his automobile with gasoline at the service station.

Although the employee is not shown performing any type of strenuous activities, nor does the injured employee deny that he actually played with his children on occasion or ran basic, necessary errands during his injury, the company will typically still try to use such videotape at trial since it tends to show that the employee's life has continued even though he has become injured. Very often a jury will view the injured employee as continuing with his daily activities even though he has sustained an injury, especially when the jury is shown videotape of routine activities performed by the employee.

In today's legal environment it is not uncommon for a maritime company to spend tens of thousands of dollars obtaining videotape surveillance of an injured employee. Typically this great expense will pay for itself especially if the employee is shown performing heavy activities on the videotape. Even if the employee is not performing strenuous activities on the videotape, sometimes the videotape can still serve the purpose of showing the jury that the injured employee's life continues to "go on" despite the fact that he is injured. Videotape surveillance of an injured employee is often one of the most difficult challenges that will be faced at trial. If you have been injured and you are pursuing a maritime claim against your employer, it is important to remember that your employer may always be watching you and videotaping your activities.