Employer Does Have Some Say About Outside Work

Question: Can an employer restrict an employee from doing work on his or her free time, like on the weekends? I can understand a boss not wanting you to work for a competitor, but can he prohibit you from doing absolutely any part-time work at night and on weekends, even if it isn’t even remotely connected to your company or industry?

--C.F., Newport Beach

Answer: As you recognize, an employer may have legitimate concerns about outside work that employees do on their own time. In addition to being worried about the possibility that you might be working for a competitor, an employer may also reasonably be concerned with whether another job might unduly distract you from your principal job, or whether you might be involved in something that would reflect badly on the company.

However, a complete ban on any other jobs sounds like over-reaching. Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast legal rules on the subject. It is pretty much up to the individual employer to develop its own policy.

If you cannot persuade your boss that part-time work on your own time will not interfere with your job, you will have to decide how important the part-time work is to you. If it’s important enough, you may eventually decide that you are better off with an employer who has a more enlightened policy about work on your own time.

--Calvin House, attorney, Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

Professor, Western State University College of Law

*

Question: I am an employee of a large retail organization in Costa Mesa. My associates and I had to take a pay cut from $12 an hour down to $10, down to $8 an hour, and to start paying for our own insurance to help a company in financial difficulty.

We willingly did these things and have strived to make our sales goals with the hopes of rebuilding the company. Unfortunately, it came to our attention that our newest associate has a contract and is making $21 an hour. Is this legal? Do we have the choice of going to the labor board?

--N.B., Costa Mesa

Answer: Many employers have found it necessary to reduce employee pay or salary for economic reasons, perhaps to avoid layoffs or business closure. It is apparent your employer has tried to effectively communicate the situation for the wage reduction and successfully maintain employee “team effort” to rebuild financial stability within the company.

There are many factors when determining an employee’s salary: performance, experience, education and level of responsibility are a few. It is uncertain from your question whether there is a “legal” issue regarding the newly hired associate’s hourly rate of pay versus other associates.

I recommend you extend the same degree of communication to your employer and openly discuss these concerns. There may well be salary justification that you are unaware of that are self-explanatory. Indeed, common courtesy and good internal company communication is usually far more effective in resolving these issues than going to the labor board.

--Elizabeth Winfree-Lydon

Senior staff consultant, The Employers Group