Wipro fires employees for moonlighting: What is moonlighting?
Wipro chairman Rishad Premji on Wednesday, September 21, said that over 300 employees of the company were fired after they were found working with one of its competitors at the same time. Premji, who had expressed his disagreement about moonlighting previously, said that he stood by his recent comments on moonlighting being a complete violation of integrity. "The reality is that there are people today working for Wipro and working directly for one of our competitors and we have actually discovered 300 people in the last few months who are doing exactly that," Premji said speaking at AIMA's (All India Management Association) National Management Convention.
What is moonlighting and why is it disputed?
The term moonlighting refers to the practice of working on a second job or multiple other work assignments apart from one’s full-time job. It has become a widely debated issue in the IT (Information Technology) industry since the COVID-19 pandemic made remote working the norm, which is believed to have led to a rise in dual employment. Many IT companies have come down hard on the practice, warning employees of termination if found to be holding dual employment. Companies have opposed the practice, saying employees doing multiple jobs can impact their productivity, create a conflict of interest with competitor companies, or even lead to data breaches or theft.
Sundeep Kumar Makthala, President of Telangana IT Association (TITA) had recently told TNM that the organisation has received around 80 complaints over the past year from employees regarding termination over dual employment. IT major Infosys had recently warned employees through an email titled “No Double Lives” which said that “dual employment is not permitted as per the Employee Handbook and the Code of Conduct,” adding that any violation “will lead to disciplinary action which could even lead to termination of employment.” On the other hand, food aggregator platform Swiggy had announced a moonlighting policy in August, allowing its employees to work on external projects, subject to an approval process in some cases.
On the legal front, there is no law that prevents dual employment, said IT employees’ unions. They argue that in the absence of overtime pay and regulation of employment contracts, IT employees have the right to disconnect from their primary job after the committed work hours and engage in other projects either for additional income, or for developing skills or to pursue other interests outside their job. However, other members of the IT industry said that some employees have been found working on other projects during their work hours, sometimes even delegating their work to proxies for a fraction of their pay.
Speaking to TNM, Alagunambi Welkin, the General Secretary of Union of IT and ITES Employees, had said that the employment contract was applicable only for the duration of employment and if there was any problem in delivering the committed work, there would be a mechanism to review it within the company. While acknowledging that in some instances, employees could be using work hours for other projects, he said, “If there is a breach of contract, where an employee works outside their company in their work time, then the company can give a warning, discuss the employee’s reasons – maybe they’re not getting exposure to a particular technology here or they badly need the money – and try to resolve the issue.”
Sundeep however insisted that an employee working for a competitor could be a big loss for the employer. “If dual employment is detected, they have all rights to terminate since the employee had accepted the condition in the appointment letter… If someone is going for dual employment, they should have a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the first employer. If they take up a second job without the NOC, it is a wrong practice, regardless of the industry,” he said.