In short, you don't need to be licensed to do Mercantile's bar integrity shops (in California). All of these citations come from the California Business and Professions Code:
Let's first see how the state of California defines, "Private Investigator":
> 7521. A private investigator within the meaning of this chapter is
> a person, other than an insurance adjuster subject to the provisions
> of Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 14000) of Division 5 of the
> Insurance Code, who, for any consideration whatsoever engages in
> business or accepts employment to furnish or agrees to furnish any
> person to protect persons pursuant to Section 7521.5, or engages in
> business or accepts employment to furnish, or agrees to make, or
> makes, any investigation for the purpose of obtaining, information
> with reference to...
> ... (b) The identity, habits, conduct, business, occupation, honesty,
> integrity, credibility, knowledge, trustworthiness, efficiency,
> loyalty, activity, movement, whereabouts, affiliations, associations,
> transactions, acts, reputation, or character of any person...
>
> ...For the purposes of this section, a private investigator is any
> person, firm, company, association, partnership, or corporation
> acting for the purpose of investigating, obtaining, and reporting to
> any employer, its agent, supervisor, or manager, information
> concerning the employer's employees involving questions of integrity,
> honesty, breach of rules, or other standards of performance of job
> duties.
> This section shall not apply to a public utility regulated by the
> State Public Utilities Commission, or its employees.
So, at first glance it appears that in California, all "mystery shoppers" are defined as private investigators. In California, in order to do PI work, you need to be licensed:
> 7523. (a) Unless specifically exempted by Section 7522, no person
> shall engage in the business of private investigator, as defined in
> Section 7521, unless that person has applied for and received a
> license to engage in that business pursuant to this chapter.
But wait! If you look up the exemptions, mystery shopping (and Mercantile's bar evaluations) appear to be, as they define the exemptions, exempted from the PI license requirement:
You are exempted if you are...
> 7522 (n) (1) A person or business engaged in conducting objective
> observations of consumer purchases of products or services in the
> public environments of a business establishment by the use of a
> preestablished questionnaire, provided that person or business entity
> does not engage in any other activity that requires licensure
> pursuant to this chapter. The questionnaire may include objective
> comments.
> (2) If a preestablished questionnaire is used as a basis, but not
> the sole basis, for disciplining or discharging an employee, or for
> conducting an interview with the employee that might result in the
> employee being terminated, the employer shall provide the employee
> with a copy of that questionnaire using the same procedures that an
> employer is required to follow under Section 2930 of the Labor Code
> for providing an employee with a copy of a shopping investigator's
> report. This subdivision does not exempt from this chapter a person
> or business described in paragraph (1) if a preestablished
> questionnaire of that person or business is used as the sole basis
> for evaluating an employee's work performance.
So, what does this mean? As long as you are being provided with the standards the company wants you to judge (working with a questionnaire),and as long as the client is giving you directions in what to report, you're fine. You don't need to be licensed.
And also, the client can't discipline any employee based solely on your evaluation. They can only use it to identify a possible problem.
EDIT: Dammit Jim! I'm an attorney, not a paralegal!
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/11/2011 01:14AM by Nichtoliver.