Private Investigator Act

California’s Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) takes the position that, under the Private Investigator Act, any outside party hired to conduct an investigation of employee misconduct must be an attorney or a licensed private investigator.

Any non-attorney or unlicensed investigator who conducts an investigation or the entity that hires them as an outside party is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of $5,000, imprisonment in the county jail not to exceed one year or both fine and imprisonment.¹

1. Bus. & Prof. Code secs. 7520 et seq.