Companies in India are increasingly turning to employment legal firms to help them redraft employment agreements, identify loopholes, and enforce bans on moonlighting. In fact, some businesses are approaching law firms to ask them to enable the procedure after having ensured that all precautions have been taken.
The term “moonlighting” refers to the practice of doing an additional job outside of one’s official job. The business community in India is sharply divided. Wipro recently let go of 300 workers because they were doing two jobs. However, some startups, such as Swiggy, have made it possible for their employees to hold down part-time jobs.
“Several organizations in the IT/ITeS sector have been emphasizing the requirement to have their employment contracts and policies revisited, including additional clarity on their stance against possible moonlighting,” the partner, employment labor & benefits at Khaitan & Co, Anshul Prakash said to ET.
Prakash claimed that it was irrelevant to state that confidentiality duties would apply outside of working hours.
One expert speculates that in the near future, businesses will begin to construct more stringent agreements with clearly defined boundaries. The work requirements must be specified, and the work quality must be protected.
“Some organizations are most certainly looking into their policies and contracts to ascertain if they can allow employees to work an additional job(s) without really compromising the quality of work or business interest of the organization,” the Partner – Employment Law, at AZB & Partners Veena Gopalakrishnan told ET.
However, in certain cases, companies are making efforts to communicate with employees in order to better understand & close the “gap.”
