Husband lost job due to moonlighting

[Anonymous]

My husband lost his job due to moonlighting. His contract said no moonlighting and if he was to do it he had to notify his boss. He is an attorney who had his own practice before going to a law firm. He was helping one former client-an older lady-but he did write up a document during the workday on company time. He used his corporate email address-that’s how his boss found it.

I’m pissed because I said-do it at home, at night on our home computer and email!

[Anonymous]

What a dumbass. Dump him and find someone who isn’t a total loser.

[Anonymous]

I get why you're pissed. That was dumb. How old is he? Is he going senile?

[Anonymous]

You are not a great attorney spouse either
both should learn discretion

[Anonymous]

He was fired more for being stupid than anything else.

[Anonymous]

He shouldn’t have done it at all. That’s his employment agreement. He didn’t have to take a job that doesn’t allow him to take on extra work.

FWIW, if you did t get written permission you’d get fired at my job too.

[Anonymous]

Wow any decent attorney would have known to do it above-board. Can’t believe he was that dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow any decent attorney would have known to do it above-board. Can’t believe he was that dumb.

+1. It’s about much more than the time. It’s about conflicts, liability, reputation, etc

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are not a great attorney spouse either
both should learn discretion

Excuse me what? How is this her fault?

[Anonymous]

She is yapping on line.

[Anonymous]

well he sounds very stupid so...what do you want us to do about it?

[Anonymous]

I mean ... he's a lawyer. We all take contracts our first year of law school. He was being an idiot.

[Anonymous]

Bad judgment, obviously. Not only in doing what he did, but in taking on primary work with that restriction if he had any idea he might want to do outside work.

Hope he learned something from this episode and makes better choices going forwward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband lost his job due to moonlighting. His contract said no moonlighting and if he was to do it he had to notify his boss. He is an attorney who had his own practice before going to a law firm. He was helping one former client-an older lady-but he did write up a document during the workday on company time. He used his corporate email address-that’s how his boss found it.

I’m pissed because I said-do it at home, at night on our home computer and email!

How stupid. Why would he not send an email notifying his boss that he was helping out a former client for a one-off request. This is exactly the type of thing that the clause mentioned above was written for. This was probably not a conflict of interest with his current contract, was a personal issue that had no impact on his current work. This is the type of thing that would be approved and documented.

But by violating the clause, not informing his boss and worse, doing it on billable time, he broke two corporate rules. The double billing could be something that gets his employer in a lot of trouble. The omission alone might have been overlooked with a notation on his record, but doing it on billable time made it a firing offense.

Amazing. How can someone spend so much time on law school and still not be able to figure out essentially basic common sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My husband lost his job due to moonlighting. His contract said no moonlighting and if he was to do it he had to notify his boss. He is an attorney who had his own practice before going to a law firm. He was helping one former client-an older lady-but he did write up a document during the workday on company time. He used his corporate email address-that’s how his boss found it.

I’m pissed because I said-do it at home, at night on our home computer and email!

How stupid. Why would he not send an email notifying his boss that he was helping out a former client for a one-off request. This is exactly the type of thing that the clause mentioned above was written for. This was probably not a conflict of interest with his current contract, was a personal issue that had no impact on his current work. This is the type of thing that would be approved and documented.

But by violating the clause, not informing his boss and worse, doing it on billable time, he broke two corporate rules. The double billing could be something that gets his employer in a lot of trouble. The omission alone might have been overlooked with a notation on his record, but doing it on billable time made it a firing offense.

Amazing. How can someone spend so much time on law school and still not be able to figure out essentially basic common sense.

Yeah, I don't understand. A 1L would know better.