Workers cannot take up additional job against employer’s interest: Labour Minister

Moonlighting, which refers to working an extra job typically without the knowledge of the employer, has been a hot topic of discussion for the last few months. The debate around this issue has now reached the parliament. 

The minister of state for labour and employment, Rameswar Teli, responded to a related query in a written reply to the Lok Sabha. Teli said that a worker cannot take up any additional job that goes against the interest of the employer. The government is not taking up any study on this issue. Teli was responding to MP Sumalatha Ambareesh and he quoted the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act 1946. 

MP Sumalatha had raised the issue of moonlighting in Lok Sabha and asked if the Centre considers moonlight as a ground for firing employees. Teli said that employment and retrenchments like layoffs were regular phenomena in industrial establishments and that there was no information indicating layoffs happening due to moonlighting. When asked whether the government has asked companies not to fire employees for moonlighting, Teli said that matters concerning companies in IT, edtech, social media and similar sectors lie in the respective state government’s jurisdiction.

He told the House that matters relating to layoffs in industrial establishments are governed by the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (ID Act). As per this act, companies employing over 100 persons must seek prior permission from appropriate government before effecting closure, retrenchment or lay-off, said Teli. The ID Act offers for the rights for compensation and provision for re-employment for retrenched employees and Central and state governments may take actions to protect interests of the workmen.

The moonlighting issue gained prominence this year when IT firm Wipro chairman Rishad Premji tweeted regarding moonlighting, calling it ‘cheating’. He had also said that as many as 300 employees who were found moonlighting were fired. Several other companies like TCS, Infosys, and IBM spoke against the practice too.

A recent survey carried by job portal Indeed found that 43% of the employees in the Indian IT sector preferred moonlighting. Some of the reasons the employees gave for being in favor of moonlighting were to supplement income and to safeguard against job loss.