Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken seriously?

Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by nopehnnope on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @03:13AM (#32561490)

As an employee you have a duty of loyalty to your employer. I’m not sure about side projects generally, that is probably a Cyprus specific question. But I’d be shocked if it’s legal anywhere to release a product that competes with what you work on at your job. That’s just common sense. You would likely be violating not just your employment contract, but also trade secret, copyright, patents, etc. This is egregious enough behavior to even be criminally charged in many places.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by l33tc0de on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @03:28AM (#32561591)

'As an employee you have a duty of loyalty to your employer'

Incredibly naive if someone does this. In a employee/employer relationship, I believe one should only be loyal to themselves. Again, have integrity and don't steal stuff, but be loyal to yourself.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by nopehnnope on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @03:33AM (#32561627)

This is a legal concept. You have to be loyal to your employer. You can’t intentionally undermine their business, charge them for hours you didn’t work, etc. It doesn’t mean that you have to go out of your way to advance their ends.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by JohnFen on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @02:40PM (#32569261)

Maybe the word "loyal" is confusing here. I'm not aware of any legal requirement for loyalty. There's a legal prohibition against fraud and such, though.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by nopehnnope on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @03:11PM (#32569794)

It is literally called a duty of loyalty in many legal systems. Something you could have easily confirmed with a quick Google search in half the time it took to write your comment.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by iso1631 on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @05:30AM (#32562394)

Which jurisdiction, can you cite precedent?

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by nopehnnope on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @06:10AM (#32562629)

Quick Google shows this to be true in common law jurisdictions and every civil law jurisdiction I saw relevant information on.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by aurantia on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @04:40AM (#32562085)

> But I’d be shocked if it’s legal anywhere to release a product that competes with what you work on at your job.

That happens everyday. In fact most companies are found by people who already work in the industry. You simply should not steal trade secrets, copyright or patents.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by nopehnnope on Wednesday August 24, 2022 @04:12AM (#32576258)

Everything can be a trade secret. They’re not labeled with a stamp that says “Trade Secret”. If you’re working on a direct competitor to something you make at work, you are almost certainly stealing trade secrets without even realizing.

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Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by lloydatkinson on Tuesday August 23, 2022 @04:28AM (#32562012)

Hmm yes, in the same way they are loyal to employees despite being able to fire them with no notice? Terrible ideology.

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[dead]

Re:Ask HN: Should a 'no side projects' policy be taken serio... by dang on Thursday August 25, 2022 @03:28AM (#32590701)

You can't post like this to HN, and since you've been doing it a lot, I've banned the account. Please don't create accounts to break HN's rules with.

If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

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