Q: I am a first aid trainer with a national company. I am poorly paid and want to go freelance and still mainly work for them but they tell me I can't do this as it would be "a clash of interest". Is this true, is it enforceable and can they stop me earning a living in this way?
Jun 03 2006
Answered by: Peter Done Ask a question
If you work as an employee for a company and you decide to set up your own business, you can do so on a full-time or part-time basis. If you do so on a full-time basis, you are of course resigning from your current employment and going it alone. Sometimes, workers do just that and then contract their services back to their previous employer on an agreed basis.
However, there is no obligation on the previous employer’s part to agree to terms which are not in their interests and if you want to supply your services to them on a freelance basis you are on a level playing field with any other supplier.
Many workers are employed by a third party during the day and then run their own business in the evening. If this is what you want to do (work part-time for your current employer and do some freelance work for other companies in your free time) it is difficult for a company to prevent you doing so unless your current employment contract already restricts such activity, (this is known as a restrictive covenant and it must be ‘reasonable’ in the circumstances and as you suggest, they cannot prevent you from earning a living). Alternatively, they could argue that you are unfit for work (due to the long hours spent freelancing) and in that case, as your employer, they could discipline you, but it would come down to whether or not there was reasonable evidence of the alleged unfitness.
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