7 ms·

I mean, it's illegal and you're lying to your employer.. so in the end it's about your morale sense.. it doesn't matter much what other people do or think of it

by d0m 9y ago

I mean, it's illegal and you're lying to your employer.. so in the end it's about your morale sense.. it doesn't matter much what other people do or think of it. A somewhat stupid analogy is like saying "I'm killing people in my spare time. I get that it's wrong, but that hasn't stopped me from doing it. Am I the only one that does this?" If you find other people doing it won't make it more legal ;-)

justonepost 9y ago
How is it illegal? There might be a civil case (can you sue an employee for laziness?) but I am unaware of a criminal statute on slacking off.
- soared 9y ago
  I'd imagine he means that all the side project work op is doing is technically owned by his employer, so using it for his own gain is illegal.
  - bri3d 9y ago
    We don't know the employer's IP clause. I've certainly worked for companies which claim ownership of only IP directly discovered in the course of doing the company's work, related to the company's work, or using the company's equipment. With that being said, OP is probably doing the work from his employer's office, which is definitely a breach of any employment contract I've ever signed.
  - twblalock 9y ago
    I think it would still be a civil matter, just as patent infringement is.
  - barrkel 9y ago
    It would more likely be a breach contract.
  - briandear 9y ago
    However, that still isn't illegal. That would be a civil dispute. "Illegal" is implying that he could go to jail and that he is breaking a law. Just nitpicking, but I think that "illegal" is a much stronger idea than simply "could get you fired or could get you sued."
- d0m 9y ago
  It's not being lazy, it's being paid for A and working on B, totally different thing. If I hire a freelancer to work on project A and charges me X$/h, but instead work on project B and still charge me for that time, it's illegal. Of course, illegal is a fuzzy term, it really depends of how the contract is crafted and, more importantly, how much one would be willing to take legal action against the freelancer (which will most likely turns out more expensive than just letting it go). I'm no lawyer, but pretty sure it's not written in standard contracts "Employees can work on whatever he/she wants, get to keep all the IP of it, pending that employee doesn't get caught."
  - FLUX-YOU 9y ago
    >If I hire a freelancer to work on project A and charges me X$/h, but instead work on project B and still charge me for that time, it's illegal. Employers with exempt full-time employees can mandate you stay for 40 hours/week regardless if you've finished your work for the week in the first 4 hours or not. With physical labor, it's relatively easy to find the line where it's impossible to go faster. With software, you can take a 3 month project and solve it in 10 minutes if it happens to be close enough to something available off-the-shelf. I get nothing extra if I deliver before the deadline by knowing about that solution (especially within 10 minutes), and that's the problem. Worst case, you have to write it all yourself and then you're still on-par with physical labor jobs, so you aren't entitled to anything extra for delivering before the deadline.
deleted 9y ago
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by d0m 9y ago

justonepost 9y ago

How is it illegal? There might be a civil case (can you sue an employee for laziness?) but I am unaware of a criminal statute on slacking off.

soared 9y ago
I'd imagine he means that all the side project work op is doing is technically owned by his employer, so using it for his own gain is illegal.
- bri3d 9y ago
  We don't know the employer's IP clause. I've certainly worked for companies which claim ownership of only IP directly discovered in the course of doing the company's work, related to the company's work, or using the company's equipment. With that being said, OP is probably doing the work from his employer's office, which is definitely a breach of any employment contract I've ever signed.
- twblalock 9y ago
  I think it would still be a civil matter, just as patent infringement is.
- barrkel 9y ago
  It would more likely be a breach contract.
- briandear 9y ago
  However, that still isn't illegal. That would be a civil dispute. "Illegal" is implying that he could go to jail and that he is breaking a law. Just nitpicking, but I think that "illegal" is a much stronger idea than simply "could get you fired or could get you sued."
d0m 9y ago
It's not being lazy, it's being paid for A and working on B, totally different thing. If I hire a freelancer to work on project A and charges me X$/h, but instead work on project B and still charge me for that time, it's illegal. Of course, illegal is a fuzzy term, it really depends of how the contract is crafted and, more importantly, how much one would be willing to take legal action against the freelancer (which will most likely turns out more expensive than just letting it go). I'm no lawyer, but pretty sure it's not written in standard contracts "Employees can work on whatever he/she wants, get to keep all the IP of it, pending that employee doesn't get caught."
- FLUX-YOU 9y ago
  >If I hire a freelancer to work on project A and charges me X$/h, but instead work on project B and still charge me for that time, it's illegal. Employers with exempt full-time employees can mandate you stay for 40 hours/week regardless if you've finished your work for the week in the first 4 hours or not. With physical labor, it's relatively easy to find the line where it's impossible to go faster. With software, you can take a 3 month project and solve it in 10 minutes if it happens to be close enough to something available off-the-shelf. I get nothing extra if I deliver before the deadline by knowing about that solution (especially within 10 minutes), and that's the problem. Worst case, you have to write it all yourself and then you're still on-par with physical labor jobs, so you aren't entitled to anything extra for delivering before the deadline.

deleted 9y ago

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