I am a nurse practitioner employeed by a for profit hospital in Florida. We are all "salaried" employees. One of my fellow nurse practitioners also has a part-time job with a local physician and makes home visits to patients as well as in local assisted living facilities billing for his services. Recently the manager for our practice has informed him that because he is an "exempt employee" the hospital owns him for 24/7 and that because he is a professional provider he cannot work with any other business in town. They do not pay any of us to be "on call" 24/7 nor do we have a contract stating this. This particular nurse practitioner is diligent to complete his work assignments and is one of the top producers of billable visits. Never has his part-time work interfered with the work for our employer. Initially the human resourse director felt like as long as he did not work at his part-time job during our regular workday that this would be a problem. However, after our manager and the hospital administrator became involved she abruptly changed her stance. They gave him the impression that other exempt employees, i.e. nurse managers would be allowed to have part-time jobs such as nurses moonlighting at other hospitals on the weekends, because they were not "professional providers" as we are. He relies on this extra income to support his family and they are wanting a decision in a couple of days...I'm assuming that this means he will agree to desist his part-time job or turn in his notice if he is unwilling to comply. Is this lawful?????? Please help!!!

The question here is not really one of exempt vs. non-exempt or even full vs. part time. The question is whether an employer can legally prohibit an employee from moonlighting. And in the absence of a contract to the contrary, while the employer cannot technically STOP him (he's not holding a gun to his head) he CAN fire the employee and hire someone who is willing to not moonlight.

I would have him run this past an employment attorney, though, as there may be some gender discrimination issues involved.