Services
Document a loss
Support a claim
For carriers and employers
Service areas
Middle Tennessee
- Nashville
- Clarksville
- Murfreesboro
- Franklin
- Hendersonville
- Smyrna
- Spring Hill
- Gallatin
- Lebanon
- Columbia
- Brentwood
- Mount Juliet
- La Vergne
- Cookeville
East Tennessee
West Tennessee
Working-While-Collecting Investigations in Tennessee
For workers' compensation carriers, self-insured employers, third-party administrators and their attorneys, Delator Claims Division verifies whether a claimant receiving benefits appears to be working elsewhere or running a business. Findings come from public observation and public records, and are reported as facts.
- Coverage
- 95 of 95 counties
- Dispatch
- 24 / 7 / 365
- Metro response
- Under 60 min avg.
- Statewide
- 4-hour guarantee
What this service covers
Work that has not been disclosed tends to leave traces the public can see: a truck with a company name on the door, a business listing with a personal phone number, a contractor profile with recent reviews, a booth at a weekend market. An investigator's job is to find those traces, confirm they belong to the claimant, and document what the person was seen doing, where, for how long and for whom, if that can be established.
The service is limited to the parties responsible for the claim and is not offered to claimants. Investigators do not call a business pretending to be a customer in order to extract protected information, and they do not obtain payroll, tax or bank records. Whether activity counts as employment, whether it was required to be disclosed and what follows from it are questions for the carrier and its counsel.
Signs that lead clients to ask
- A claimant in a skilled trade such as roofing, HVAC or auto repair is reported to be taking side jobs for cash.
- A business registration or contractor listing appears under the claimant's name or a spouse's name soon after benefits begin.
- The claimant is hard to reach on weekdays, misses therapy sessions and leaves home at the same early hour each morning.
- Advertisements for lawn care, hauling or cleaning services list the claimant's phone number on community pages or classified sites.
- A former coworker says the claimant now works at a competitor, a family farm or a relative's shop.
What the verification covers
- Business entity records
- Publicly available business filings, assumed-name registrations and local business licenses listing the claimant as owner, officer or registered agent, with filing dates.
- Advertising and listings
- Web pages, marketplace ads, review profiles and signage offering services, captured with dates, contact details and any photographs showing the claimant at work.
- Work pattern observation
- Departure and return times, work clothing, tools loaded, and arrival at a job site or business, observed from public roads over more than one day.
- Tasks performed
- What the claimant was seen doing at the location, such as operating equipment, serving customers or directing a crew, described factually with video.
- Work vehicles and equipment
- Trucks, trailers and machinery in use, including visible lettering and plate numbers, and whether they appear at the claimant's residence overnight.
- Customer-facing presence
- Whether the claimant was seen quoting work, handling payment or wearing a company shirt, as observed in areas open to the public.
From request to delivered record
- RequestCall dispatch or submit the request form with the location, loss type and urgency.
- DeployDispatch assigns the nearest available licensed field investigator through the statewide network.
- DocumentPhotographs, video, measurements and factual notes are captured once the scene is safe to work.
- PreserveFiles are timestamped, organized and kept in their original form with a record of who captured them.
- ReportThe package is delivered securely to the requesting party, typically the same day.
Starting from records, finishing in the field
Records alone rarely settle the question. A business registered in someone's name may be dormant, or may be run entirely by a family member. An online listing may be years old. So the research phase is used to decide where and when to look, and field observation is used to confirm whether the person is actually present and active. The report keeps the two apart, identifying which facts came from a filing and which from an investigator's own eyes.
Seasonal and informal work adds difficulty. Landscaping, construction labor, farm work and event staffing follow weather and daylight, and jobs move from site to site. An investigator may follow a work vehicle from a residence to a job location on public roads and document from the street. If the work takes place inside a private building or behind a fence, the report states that the activity could not be seen.
What observation can and cannot establish
Seeing a person on a job site shows presence and activity. It does not show whether the person was paid, how much, or by whom. Helping a relative for an afternoon and running a crew five days a week can look similar on a single day. Delator's reports are careful on this point: they describe frequency, duration and role as observed across the days covered, and they do not characterize the arrangement as employment or as income.
Clients typically take the findings to the next step themselves. Counsel may put questions to the claimant under oath, or the carrier may request records through proper legal channels. Delator does not advise on those steps or on what any benefit rule requires. If asked, the investigator can identify from public sources the business owner or general contractor at an observed site so the client knows whom to contact.
This service is available to insurance carriers, self-insured entities, third-party administrators and the attorneys who represent them. Delator reports facts and observed indicators; decisions on coverage, liability, settlement and any fraud referral remain with the client.
It is not offered to policyholders or claimants, and Delator does not act as a public adjuster. Policyholders and claimants can request neutral scene documentation instead.
Common questions about this service
Who can retain Delator for a working-while-collecting investigation?
Workers' compensation carriers, self-insured employers, third-party administrators and attorneys representing them. The assignment must relate to an open claim identified by the client. Delator does not accept these requests from claimants, competitors of a business, or individuals in a personal dispute.
Can you prove the claimant is being paid?
Usually not through fieldwork alone. Investigators can document that a person was present and performing tasks, and can capture public advertising and business filings. Proof of payment generally comes from records the client or its counsel obtains through lawful process, which Delator does not obtain.
Will you call the business posing as a customer?
Investigators do not use a false story to obtain protected or private information. They may view what any member of the public can see, including advertisements, storefronts and published contact details, and they may observe the claimant working in public view. The methods used are listed in the report.
What if the claimant works in another part of the state?
Delator covers all 95 Tennessee counties with its own licensed investigators, so observation can continue when a work vehicle leaves the home county. If the activity appears to continue outside Tennessee, the investigator reports that to the client and asks how to proceed.
Available statewide, including
Every Tennessee county is covered. See the deployment map for typical response tiers by county.
Request documentation anywhere in Tennessee
Dispatch is staffed around the clock. For time-sensitive scenes, calling is fastest; the request form works for routine and scheduled assignments.