TL;DR Is working 2 jobs illegal, and should I be worried about possible ramifications? Hey so I've been working remote full-time since covid and have been lucky that in my org I haven't really had to do anything in person. Right at the onset of the pandemic I was deciding between four offers and fortunately the timing worked out just perfectly, even with the uncertainty of everything in 2020. I negotiated hard even though I was only interested in one of them. I ended up taking that one, which is more senior, more interesting work, with TC that isn't 🥜💩 . I was planning to wrap up the main project I was on, give 2 week notice and have 3 weeks of time in between jobs for some personal stuff, but tbh didn't want to deal with insurance and wherever bs in the interim, and just decided to coast during that time frame. Well after seeing how easy it was to get away with doing nothing I just kept at it and here we are now. I've been putting in 2-5 hours per week at most while working full-time at what I consider my "real" job around 60 hours a week. I've exhausted all of the employee resources that I have and I can't figure out if this more than just morally wrong. Don't really gaf about that but just trying to future-proof myself if I should consult an attorney or something. Not planning on leaving anytime soon but just want to be prepared. Anyone else in a similar boat? Btw obviously no one I work with knows but it would be pretty damn easy to figure out lol MSFT TC: 210k
It’s not illegal. I worked 2 jobs in college. Why would it be illegal
It definitely breaks MSFT rules for moonlighting/second jobs if you’re doing the same work for someone else, not sure about the other jobs policies. You could get fired. It may show up on a future HireRight check.
When my spouse was at Microsoft, all IP related to its product lines was considered company property, which made moonlighting or developing a startup difficult. A few of his colleagues did have permission to do it. There is absolutely nothing illegal about working 2, 3 or a dozen jobs.
Well it's not illegal but you could be in violation of your employment agreements at Microsoft and Other Company. So if either finds out you could get fired. But it sounds like they're not gonna find out so I wouldn't worry about it. I'd be more concerned with what your exit strategy is going to be. Let's say you want to move on from Microsoft, and either keep Old Company job or move on from that too. What are you going to put on your resume, will you say that you stopped working at Old Company 2 years ago? Will you say the same thing on the background check form? Background checks are not super thorough, but they typically contact each company to verify when you started and when you ended your employment. I think some background check forms let you request that they don't contact a specific employer, but not all. If that is an option, they will still ask you to prove your employment with paystubs or W2 forms from your start and end year, so that should be doable in your situation. But if that's not an option, I don't know what the solution is. Maybe ask on overemployed.com.
Overemployed recommends freezing your data on TWN so your work history can't be reported. "Employment Data Freeze | The Work Number" https://employees.theworknumber.com/employee-data-freeze/
what's your real job‘s tc ?
I did 3x 1099 jobs in 1990-2000s to pay for divorce, Mayo Clinic cancer treatments for my parent & just to save $ to buy my dream MFH home in Palo Alto. Sales in MA, Mart in AZ & PM in CA. And this was before WFH/Hybrid.