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Ask HN: discussing free time contract work with my full time employer

2 points by thr0w4w4y1001 ↗ HN
I’m a full-time dev at a large tech company, and am currently based out of California. I plan on doing contract work in my spare time, potentially doing things related to what I do full-time. I have not signed a non-compete with my company, and to my knowledge no contract stipulations preventing me from contracting. However I still want to talk to someone from our legal dept before doing so. Is this a good idea? Should I tell them at all?

3 comments

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byoung2
I am not a lawyer, but I do live in California and I have been a director of engineering when this question came up.

You are in California so non-compete wouldn't apply even if you signed it. We also have off-duty conduct laws here, so any lawful act you engage in outside of work is not a fireable offense. So if you want to drive for Uber or do some contract app development, you can do it if you want. I would not mention it to HR or legal, however. While they might not be able to legally fire you specifically because you are contracting on the side, you are an at-will employee and they can use the fact that you asked about it as a reason to fire you (the same as telling your boss "I'm interviwing"). They might discuss it amongst themselves and quietly terminate you without stating a reason.

siegel
Just want to qualify this a bit - a post-termination non-compete wouldn't apply. But employers have a lot more flexibility while you are still employed.
siegel
I would take a look at your employment agreement first. You might not have much of a choice but to talk to them for a number of reasons - IP assignment issues, conflict of interest policies, etc...This is the kind of thing where you want to tread carefully.