Can employer sack me if........

lincsdan86

SarEl wrote: »

Alternatively you could try spitting out the question and not playing games with people here who are trying to help you.

TBH I meant me to try again and explain it. I know people are trying to help and I am very grateful for the advice received

highguyuk

To be blunt.

By doing private work in the village you live you are POTENTIALLY taking away custom from your own business. Whether they would use your full time company to help them with financial matters or not is irrelevant, there is that chance.

Therefore, the company you work for aren't going to be happy about it if they were to find out especially with that sort of clause in your contract. Either do it under the radar and risk being found out or just politely decline the extra work.

getmore4less

Loads of people have can't do specific other work or must ask permission to o any other work.

reasons, afew there are others.

non competative.

Will it interfere with the emploloyes commitment to their first job

WTD, will they be working too many hours.

Many people ignore these thinking that only paid work counts so do volunteer work or are on school commitees run scout groups etc. that they should have asked permision for.


In your case there is clear potential for a conflict being you are doing the same work/services for people that could be clients.

I would not do this without written permission, you should ask to even do other peoples for free maybe even your own partners.

paulwf

I wouldn't be comfortable doing it. Are you using any of the employed time or resources (software etc) to do your job on the side? If an independent job went wrong it could reflect badly on your professional career and even your company.

What is the point in risking your £20K or whatever job for the sake of a few hundred on the side? If you really think you offer a better and cheaper service then take the plunge and go self employed.

exeterstudent

You may be in breach of contract by doing that, but there's a difference between being that and it being sackable... fairly, anyway.

You could be breaching the implied term of mutual trust and fidelity (i.e. that you won't intefere with their business), but this seems unlikely if you can put a good case forward that it had no impact on their business.

IMO your conduct wouldn't have been so bad as to justify a sacking without warning - but maybe they'd be justified in requesting that you discontinue, but I don't think they could fairly dismiss you for this, as you're not poaching business.

Sorry this lacks citations, but I don't have my textbooks in front of me!

Disclaimer: Only a fool would take advice from a law student (and this isn't legal advice!)

smartpicture

It's irrelevant whether these people would use your company if you didn't do their returns, it's about whether they potentially could, and by doing them you've removed that possibility.

I think that if you don't want to ask your employer directly, it's because you already know what the answer will be. You know they will object, and therefore it's against the spirit of the contract meaning, even if you could argue your way legally out of it (which actually, I don't think you could, as it seems pretty clear).

Savvy_Sue

Is there a new market for your employer to exploit here, of simple tax returns at a cheaper price? You suggest their prices are rather high, although you need to remember that your employer has overheads which you would not - insurance is one that was mentioned, and you might want to consider whether you'd need your own IF you did this!