A worker was sacked over his side hustle. Here are 5 tips for employees with second gigs

A recent case before the Fair Work Commission has exposed the limits of being able to work a second job when working full-time.

An employee was fired because he had a second job, which he said he had fully disclosed to his employer. The employee took his case to the Fair Work Commission, claiming he had been unfairly dismissed by his employer.

Dismissal is termination due to violation of the employment conditions. An employee can go to the Fair Work Commission and make a claim for ‘unfair dismissal’. The committee then assesses the legal aspects of the situation and makes a decision or ruling on the merits of the case.

The Fair Work Commission found that the dismissal was not unfair, citing two key points:

• the employee had a side business in an area similar to his main job
• running your own business meant that the employee spent his normal working hours on his second job.

When is it okay to do a side hustle?

Some employers do not allow employees to have a second job or run a side business, and include this requirement in the offer letter for a new job.

Others indicate that an employee must request permission to work a second job. The employer can then decide whether the other job could affect the employee’s safety and well-being. This also means you are too tired to do your main job, or it creates competition with their business.

Second jobs can take different forms, ranging from formal to informal jobs.

A part-time job is a formal type of employment and usually has fixed working hours and required tasks. These could include jobs such as working in restaurants and bars or teaching in the evenings after normal daytime working hours.

A side job is an informal activity that earns money and that you perform in addition to your full-time job.

This could be in the gig economy or in an online business.

Side jobs are entrepreneurial and flexible and can be as simple as turning a hobby or interest into a paid gig, such as selling refurbished furniture, playing in a band, walking dogs or teaching yoga in your spare time.

Practical tips to avoid crossing the border

1) Read your offer letter when you started your job. If there is a statement that prohibits you from taking a side job, you cannot take a second job.

If your offer letter states that you must request permission to take on a part-time job, let your employer know.

2) Make sure your side hustle doesn’t compete with your main job.

3) As an employee, your loyalty to your employer is important. Taking on a side hustle can take your attention and support away from the main activity you’re paying for.

4) Your side job may not spill over into your main job. It is reasonable to expect that you will fully concentrate on your full-time job during the agreed working hours.

5) It’s not just your employer’s time that can’t be used: you also can’t use any of your employer’s resources to run your side hustle.

How many hours do people work in their second job?

While it’s difficult to discern data on side hustles alone, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reports that almost 1 million people have more than one job. That’s out of a workforce of 10 million full-time workers.

The agency says multi-job workers worked about eight hours a week in their second job, and they worked slightly fewer hours than individual job holders, spending about 30.5 hours a week in their main job.

These figures may be the tip of the iceberg, as multiple jobs include people with a second job as well as side workers.

Motivations for the part-time job or part-time job

The increase in the number of people working multiple jobs over the past five years reflects the rise in the cost of living, mainly due to higher house prices.

The rise of the side hustle has also been attributed to the greater use of digital platforms, such as ride-sharing, food delivery and vacation rentals, and the resulting highly flexible work options created by the gig economy.

Although financial problems play a big role in why people have a second job, there are other reasons too:

Some employers allow their employees to take on side jobs so they don’t lose them and to give them more motivation for their main jobs.

So if your passion project, great idea or hobby can be turned into a paid side job – and you can do it on your own time around your main job without creating competition with your employer – there should be a clear path for you to try something else.