Moonlighting is Ok if There is No Breach of Contract: Rajeev Chandrasekhar

Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, on Thursday said that ‘moonlighting by IT employees is okay if there is no breach of contract’. The IT minister acknowledged that moonlighting is a trend, claiming that the practice will evolve over the years with “more employees preferring to take up jobs as consultants”. 

However, the idea of dual employment in the Indian IT sector has the companies divided. Tech giants like Infosys and IBM are strictly against the practice of employees taking another job discreetly, whereas brands like Tech Mahindra approve of the side-gig culture. 

Amid this debate, the minister believes moonlighting could lay the path for the future of work culture. "My point on this is very simple: Employee entrepreneurship is a trend we cannot ignore. In the future, the model is going to involve more and more groups of individuals working together as a group, either loosely connected or tightly connected, who will be doing significant amounts of work," said the minister. 

He emphasized, "I want to be very clear on behalf of myself, my ministry, and the government of India that I will never condone it and it is not a great idea for any employee to start talking about violating a contractual commitment he or she has with the company.”

Moonlighting refers to employees taking up other jobs in addition to primary employment. The trend boomed during the pandemic and has become a growing concern in the IT industry today. Major tech companies worry that the practice may lead to data breaches, create conflict of interests, along with concerns of the company's Intellectual Property (IP) being used.