Carlos Valencia, CEO of Palma-based GrupoGes and a private investigator since 1979, states the situation clearly: "We can say without fear of being wrong that 50% of the sick leaves investigated are fraudulent."
Juan Carlos Cabanach of Cabanach Detectives, also based in Palma, says: "I've been in this business for many years and I've never seen anything like it. There are hotel chains with 3,000 employees, and 600 of them are on sick leave at some point for various reasons. It's an issue that greatly worries employers."
Absenteeism rates in Mallorca and the Balearics are of great concern to employers. The hospitality industry is the most affected; it has been as high as 27.5%. That is a figure for the industry in general. In the accommodation sector specifically it is around 14%, having risen three percentage points over the past three years.
Employers have been turning to private detectives because of suspicions of fraud. Cabanach adds: "There has never been as much labour fraud as there is now. Labour law firms are overwhelmed with these cases. There used to be more criminal lawyers. There are so many cases that there are more labour lawyers. Half of the cases we investigate as suspected labour fraud end up being confirmed. Many of these workers have two jobs." The number of cases his firm investigates has gone up by 200%.
Valencia explains that these types of investigations are varied and complex. "Almost no two cases are ever identical, but the goal is to gather evidence that can be admissible in court to prove that the worker is faking it. In 2024, social security reported that 54 out of every 1,000 workers were on sick leave. This is really alarming.
"We can say that sick leave has doubled in ten years. Furthermore, we know from information provided by companies that at least one out of every 100 sick leaves is fraudulent."
The minister for employment, Catalina Cabrer, says there is unease among businesses. "It affects them financially in a significant way. But it's important to point out that a worker has every right to take sick leave. However, if a company suffers a surge in sick leave, this can be devastating. It's not easy to find others to replace those on leave. We need to expedite medical testing."