Wipro chairman calls moonlighting ‘cheating’ – Times of India

BENGALURU: Moonlighting seems to have divided traditional tech companies and new age ones. Wipro chairman Rishad Premji has described it as cheating. On Saturday, he tweeted, “There is a lot of chatter moonlighting in the tech industry. This is cheating – plain and simple.”
This comes just days after Swiggy said its employees are allowed to moonlight, provided the work does not conflict with Swiggy’s business and does not impact productivity. Fintech unicorn Cred recently told TOI that it encourages side hustles. It noted that its heads of design and engineering are part of the Carnatic rock band Agam.
As the world moved offices to the living rooms during the pandemic, it also led to some employees moonlighting. A few months ago, TOI had reported how Nasscom’s regional council chair for Noida received a complaint that a person was working for seven companies parallelly. Most traditional companies prohibit external work on commercial terms.
Rahul Sasi, co-founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm CloudSek, said he concurs with Premji’s view.
Vikram Shroff, head of the HR law practice at law firm Nishith Desai Associates, said IT sector employers who have full-time employment tend to restrict employees from any form of moonlighting.
HR professionals and legal experts believe that courts have in the past permitted employers to terminate employment if an employee is found to be moonlighting. There is restriction on double employment under the Factories Act. However, that law does not apply to IT companies in some states.