I recently hired an assistant for my home business. She would work four hours per week to do clerical work (data entry, filing, etc.) She called me upset the day before she was to start because her current employer told her that having a second job would jeopardize her work at her day job and they forbid her to work for anyone else. She said she needed her full time income, so she had to quit her second job. I know her company has a noncompete agreement, but the two companies are in no way remotely related to each other.

Can employers terminate employees for having a second job?

It is perfectly legal for an employer to have a policy against moonlighting. The employer with the full-time primary job may be concerned that she will not be able to work overtime, for example, if she needs to "go to her other job". Your employee obviously decided that it wasn't worth the chance of discharge (which would be a perfectly legal termination).

Maybe you can find someone who wants ONLY part-time and has a more flexible schedule. Perhaps an older worker or a parent with school-age children who wants a few hours out of the house?

Can employers terminate employees for having a second job?

Yes, that is legal. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes it does not, but it is still legal.

I don't prohibit employees from having another job, but there are problems when they call off from work for me because the other employer wants them to work outside their usual schedule. I then have to scramble to replace them at work.

I don't mind if we agree on your regular schedule and you absolutely refuse to work anything but that (don't ask me for any favors, though). I do mind if you take time off from your regular schedule to work elsewhere.

Wow, I am shocked that is legal. I was the flexible job and she got to choose how much and when she worked.

Yes, it's legal - it's the full-time employers call no matter how flexible her second job hrs. would be. They don't have to allow it & can terminate employees for having a second job.

More to the point, if you have two employers, both employers can demand that they have first choice on where and when the employee works and both employers can legally terminate the employee for refusing to comply. And both employers can legally say that as their needs change, they can legally change their requirements on the employee. We can talk about which employer is the 1st and which is the 2nd but legally both employers have the same legal ability to dictate hours and conditions of employment.

You're right - that's true technically. However, we were just considering *in this case* that she would be more concerned about her full-time job & how that employer felt about her working another job as opposed to her being concerned about the part-time job. Most people would consider the full-time job the primary/main job & the part-time job as a 2nd/secondary job.