Full time job & hobbies/second job ambiguity

vasanthz · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:06 pm

Hello,

Scenario 1:
Suppose a person is employed full time at a job in mainframes at COMPANY X.
And the person is interested to develop some android applications and he develops android apps. The person does not use COMPANY X time to develop any apps. He uses his free time on weekends and makes money off android market.

Now in this scenario, is the person actually doing a second job and is there any possibility to lose his full time job at COMPANY X?

Scenario 2: The person is employed full time at COMPANY X in mainframes, and during his free time on weekend, teaches mainframe to students at a 3rd party training institute. And makes money.

Will the employee face termination from COMPANY X?

Scenario 3: The person trains students at his home on mainframes & still gets money for the training

I understand that these are legal stuff and may vary from company to company. But as far as I have heard, ALL companies have some legalese against such activity. Is it really a serious issue? if neither of the scenarios use COMPANY X resources in any way.

Thanks & Regards,

enrico-sorichetti · Posted: Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:12 pm

Everything should be defined in the contract signed at hire time.
things will get even more complicated when dealing with the IP

when I was hired by IBM a long time ago it was clearly stated that the IP for any work IT related
even if done on my own time and my own equipment would belong to IBM

steve-myers · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 1:50 am

In the early 1980s, I got a job offer with similar issues. I told the company they could take that offer and shove it. The money wasn't that great anyway. I'm no lawyer, but I doubt that kind of c*** is enforceable.

Mickeydusaor · Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2015 2:47 am

when I was hired by IBM it was also stated and in the documents that were signed when hired that any IT work even if done on my own time and my own equipment would belong to IBM.

vasanthz · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 4:50 am

Thank you for the replies. It seems kind of unfair.. Its like the company OWNS the employee .. hmmm

steve-myers · Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 8:40 am

I'm not an expert - or for that matter all that knowledgeable - regarding intellectual property law. In my opinion the courts went overboard in some aspects of the law.

I do know that in 45 years I've had one idea that might have been patentable. But that was 35 years ago! I have seen one product using a variation of the idea within the last 15 years or so. So it's not that the idea didn't have value, but I think leaving the concept in the public domain provided more value to our industry rather than trying to lock it up.