The Realities of Dual Employment in the USA and Canada

Those who read our column understand that we are not fans of remote work. Unfortunately, despite the claims of the WFH community, it seldom works out as well as working on-site for either the business or employee. personnel may feel isolated and worry losing out on promotions to on-site personnel, which is validated by recent studies. The company is concerned about staff productivity and a lack of monitoring. If the remote employee is based in another nation, a slew of additional challenges arise, including choice of law and taxes concerns.But now we're going to talk about another issue that arises far more frequently than you may expect in both the United States and Canada.

The issue is that some people work two or more full-time jobs at the same time. The issue is not totally new. Howard has argued three cases in which employees who were ordered to return to the office instead resigned and claimed constructive dismissal. During the litigation process, it was discovered that the employees did not want to return to the office in part because they had taken on multiple other jobs and did not want to lose that income. The problem is especially frequent in positions that require data administration, coding, or other IT duties. Obviously, if the employee is a plumber, a factory worker, or anybody else whose attendance is essential at work, such double dipping is extremely unlikely, if not impossible.

However, if a person never comes into the office since their entire job can be done online, they may be able to work numerous full-time jobs Apparently, many of them do

We observe that this data demonstrates how little knowledge many businesses have about what their remote employees are doing, and how little many are actually doing.Let's clear something up right now. Working two full-time jobs at the same time is grounds for dismissal with cause from both positions. Once again, loyal readers will understand that this implies there will be no notice or severance payment. We're not talking about a side business like working an evening shift at McDonald's or constructing birdhouses in your garage workshop. That is probably allowed, provided you are not competing with your job. As a full-time employee, you are compensated to work at least forty hours per week for your company. Working two full-time jobs does not equate to working eighty hours a week. In other words, you do not give each employer the hours for which you are compensated.

Furthermore, most of these individuals have employment contracts that require them to devote all of their efforts to the company. So, the double-dipping employee is not only stealing from their company, but they are also in violation of their employment terms. Finally, and most significantly, if one employment is even vaguely comparable with the other, the individual is competing with their employer. Such arrangements are prohibited. Under no circumstances can an employee compete with their boss. That alone constitutes grounds for dismissal with cause. Advert 4 Story continues below. What motivates workers to engage in such activity Let's face it, as infamous bank robber Alonzo Boyd famously stated, "I did it for the money However, it cannot be nice. For the employee, it generally entails working long hours to meet the demands of both professions and being extremely cautious with communications so that neither employer becomes aware of the other's presence. Anyone who has dated two persons at the same time will understand this problem.

The individual will likely perform poorly in one, if not all, of the jobs for which they are employed

They aren't advancing their careers and will most likely be the first to be let go from either employment. Employers, if you have an underperforming remote-working employee, start reviewing their LinkedIn profile and monitoring their email conversations since you may be getting shortchanged. If you discover that one of your workers is working full-time at another employment, you can dismiss them for reason.Simply said, the employee should cease. Quit one or both jobs and look for a job that interests you and pays well enough so you don't have to scam your employer. Howard Levitt is the senior partner of Levitt Sheikh, an employment and labour law firm with locations in Toronto and Hamilton. He practices employment law in eight provinces and has written six publications, including The Law of Dismissal in Canada. Peter Carey is a partner at Levitt Sheikh.

Please bookmark our website and support our journalism. Don't miss out on the latest business news - bookmark financialpost.com and subscribe to our newsletters here.A buddy of mine has a daughter. Her lover relocated to Canada around two years ago. I got three full-time jobs paying roughly $140,000 per year each. Was earning little over $400,000. After a year, I dropped one job and am now working two full-time jobs. Earning around $280,000 per year. I'm not sure how he handles confrontations in meetings. And he certainly does not bring any creative energy or passion to either employment. I have also worked with others that do this. They are always rushing. They are temperamental and become irritated when anything difficult necessitates investigation, conversations, and evaluation before approval. They rush through tasks in order to fulfill their deadlines with as few meetings as possible, generally because they have another appointment with their other job.

most importantly, they provide relatively nothing to either employer

It's obviously disloyal. It comes across as thievery. However, it is important to note that I have witnessed precisely similar behavior from parents who believe that the rest of the team and their organization should accommodate and bend around their schedules just because they have children. Similar temporal constraints and behaviors. This is especially true for mothers who believe the entire team should accommodate their childcare drop-off and pick-up schedules. One of the women I worked with would leave the office every day at 3 p.m. And anticipate us to reconnect at 7:30 p.m., when she is free again.

I know a person who makes us all work around his timetable. Child drop-off. Child pick-up. During conference calls, a child sits on his lap and slobbers in my ear. It's disgusting. I refuse to accommodate Mr. Mom. And I'm teaching my coworkers to do the same. I'm not concerned about his children or the pressures his wife may place on him to do his part so she may work. "Working two full-time jobs at the same time is grounds for dismissal for cause from both jobs..." While working for someone else on another employer's dime is grounds for dismissal, one has to wonder why people must work two jobs? Oh, I apologize... Trudeaunomics...Silly me.