4 ms·

Since he could've been valued at up to 3x what the company was paying him, why doesn't that make the company the con artist?

PhasmaFelis 3y ago
Well, apparently he couldn't have been, because in the end he wasn't actually capable of doing 3x the work.
- listenallyall 3y ago
  Guessing here, but I'd bet he was fully capable if he could arrange his own schedule, but the companies insisted the work be done (and meetings attended) 9-5 M-F.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
s_dev 3y ago
Probably the lack of lying in this specific arrangment that seems otherwise straight forward and honest. Also who values an employee based on how well they can work for other companies. This lad just made a bet and lost.
kazinator 3y ago
If you actually get paid 3X, most of it goes to tax. Whereas, every embezzled dollar is yours.
- PhasmaFelis 3y ago
  Not nearly "most" of it, for the vast majority of us.
  - DFHippie 3y ago
    If you're single in the US, you have to earn over $578,125 taxable dollars in a year to have a single dollar of you income taxed at the highest rate, 37%. So considering only federal taxes there is no way most of anyone's income goes to tax in the US. The highest state tax bracket in the US, a quick search tells me, is 13.3%. In California, any dollars of taxable income you earn over $1 million gets taxed at this rate. So if you earn $2 over this threshold, the majority of these two dollars, rounding up, will be taxed. If you manage to earn enough above this threshold for the extra 0.3% tax to make up for the lower tax brackets you crossed on the way to this threshold, you are a pretty rare individual indeed.
- klipt 3y ago
  You're supposed to declare earnings from crime to the IRS. Otherwise you're committing 2 crimes, which is worse once you get caught.
- michaelmrose 3y ago
  24% tax rate for single filers $89,076 to $170,050 or for a married couple $178,151 to $340,100 I realize there are other tax burdens but you are hard pressed to get higher than 45%
tadfisher 3y ago
His fraudulence created an illusion that suckered 3 employers into paying him a salary. I don't think that implies he's worth 3 salaries.
- ryandrake 3y ago
  Seriously though, -if- he's performing up to expected standards at each of this three jobs, and there is no conflict of interest between these companies, why is it a problem? The only real problem seems to be that he didn't disclose it--not that there was anything inherently immoral about taking more than one job. When someone holds down three low-paid service jobs, we congratulate them for working their ass off. But when someone on salary does the same thing, employers cry foul.
  - andrewflnr 3y ago
    From the original comment, > But he simply didn't have the time to execute because he was secretly splitting his time between 3 companies. So he was fired for low productivity...
    - ryandrake 3y ago
      Missed OP's additional edit. In that case, yea, sucks for him. Don't over-extend yourself!
  - atomicfiredoll 3y ago
    I'm not a lawyer, but in general I think it would come down to the laws where this took place, the nature of the work, and the impact on the employee's ability to fulfill their job duties. My understanding is there could be a common law duty to the employer at play, even when the employee didn't sign a noncompete and there's nothing specifically called out in the employment agreement. It's also my understanding that if the employee acted to the detriment of the employer, such as compromising their own ability to perform job duties (as happened here) or competed against that employer, they may be in breach of that duty and could be terminated for cause depending on the specific laws. So, if anybody is thinking about trying this, it's probably worth checking into local laws and potentially keeping records such as the hours worked for each employer. I would assume it's slightly more cut and dry when an hourly employee is in breach, since the hours are normally already tracked.
bratbag 3y ago
He was fired for poor performance. So clearly he was only capable of temporarily pretending to have three times the value. Seems like startup senior management potential to me.

PhasmaFelis 3y ago

Well, apparently he couldn't have been, because in the end he wasn't actually capable of doing 3x the work.

listenallyall 3y ago
Guessing here, but I'd bet he was fully capable if he could arrange his own schedule, but the companies insisted the work be done (and meetings attended) 9-5 M-F.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

s_dev 3y ago

Probably the lack of lying in this specific arrangment that seems otherwise straight forward and honest. Also who values an employee based on how well they can work for other companies. This lad just made a bet and lost.

kazinator 3y ago

If you actually get paid 3X, most of it goes to tax. Whereas, every embezzled dollar is yours.

PhasmaFelis 3y ago
Not nearly "most" of it, for the vast majority of us.
- DFHippie 3y ago
  If you're single in the US, you have to earn over $578,125 taxable dollars in a year to have a single dollar of you income taxed at the highest rate, 37%. So considering only federal taxes there is no way most of anyone's income goes to tax in the US. The highest state tax bracket in the US, a quick search tells me, is 13.3%. In California, any dollars of taxable income you earn over $1 million gets taxed at this rate. So if you earn $2 over this threshold, the majority of these two dollars, rounding up, will be taxed. If you manage to earn enough above this threshold for the extra 0.3% tax to make up for the lower tax brackets you crossed on the way to this threshold, you are a pretty rare individual indeed.
klipt 3y ago
You're supposed to declare earnings from crime to the IRS. Otherwise you're committing 2 crimes, which is worse once you get caught.
michaelmrose 3y ago
24% tax rate for single filers $89,076 to $170,050 or for a married couple $178,151 to $340,100 I realize there are other tax burdens but you are hard pressed to get higher than 45%

tadfisher 3y ago

His fraudulence created an illusion that suckered 3 employers into paying him a salary. I don't think that implies he's worth 3 salaries.

ryandrake 3y ago
Seriously though, -if- he's performing up to expected standards at each of this three jobs, and there is no conflict of interest between these companies, why is it a problem? The only real problem seems to be that he didn't disclose it--not that there was anything inherently immoral about taking more than one job. When someone holds down three low-paid service jobs, we congratulate them for working their ass off. But when someone on salary does the same thing, employers cry foul.
- andrewflnr 3y ago
  From the original comment, > But he simply didn't have the time to execute because he was secretly splitting his time between 3 companies. So he was fired for low productivity...
  - ryandrake 3y ago
    Missed OP's additional edit. In that case, yea, sucks for him. Don't over-extend yourself!
- atomicfiredoll 3y ago
  I'm not a lawyer, but in general I think it would come down to the laws where this took place, the nature of the work, and the impact on the employee's ability to fulfill their job duties. My understanding is there could be a common law duty to the employer at play, even when the employee didn't sign a noncompete and there's nothing specifically called out in the employment agreement. It's also my understanding that if the employee acted to the detriment of the employer, such as compromising their own ability to perform job duties (as happened here) or competed against that employer, they may be in breach of that duty and could be terminated for cause depending on the specific laws. So, if anybody is thinking about trying this, it's probably worth checking into local laws and potentially keeping records such as the hours worked for each employer. I would assume it's slightly more cut and dry when an hourly employee is in breach, since the hours are normally already tracked.

bratbag 3y ago

He was fired for poor performance. So clearly he was only capable of temporarily pretending to have three times the value. Seems like startup senior management potential to me.