‘I think this is really case-by-case’: Gee and Ursula weigh in on employers restricting second jobs

Dozens of lawsuits have been filed against large corporations, including Costco, Amazon, and Alaska Airlines, accusing the employers of illegally blocking employees from working a second job.

KIRO hosts Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin discussed the parameters that would allow employers to restrict employees from working two jobs, primarily citing conflicts of interest between companies.

“The boundaries need to be narrow and also reasonable,” Ursula said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “If you’re talking about a conflict of interest, that can be very real. If you have sensitive information, or you know all of a company’s secrets, and now you’re going to work at the competitor down the street, that’s not going to fly.”

Washington law does protect lower-wage workers in this regard, but only to a certain extent. If an employee makes less than twice the minimum wage ($34 per hour), an employer cannot prohibit that employee from having another job.

“This is very subjective, because I don’t want to say yes, and I don’t want to say no,” Gee said. “I think that this is really a case-by-case basis. When you have a 10,000-foot view on this topic, yes, it’s true employers care about themselves and everything. But sometimes, we employees can take advantage of the system too.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.