Legal Question in Employment Law in California

Hi there! I currently work at a fast-food restaurant and I am not making a sufficient amount of money to pay for school. So, I wanted to try to apply for another job. There is another restaurant opening in town. It has no drive-thru and people in general would not consider it a "fast-food" resturant. It is similar to Applebee's and Chili's.

I was speaking to a shift manager and he said that people could not work at one restaurant and another restaurant at the same time because it was illegal, regardless if one had a drive-thru and the other did not. I was wondering if he was correct in his statement.

Also, if a person were to be working at two restaurants at the same time to support himself and one of his employers found out, would it be illegal for his first manager to fire an employee because of that?

Thanks so much!


Asked on 2/17/10, 8:31 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
C. Coulter Mulvihill Cynthia Coulter Mulvihill, Esq.

The shift manager is wrong. There is no California or federal law that prohibits an employee from holding jobs at two different restaurants.

However, California is an employment-at-will state. That means that any employer can take an adverse action, including termination, against an employee at any time for any reason that is not against the law or discriminatory. Therefore, an employer could terminate an employee because the employee was working at a different restaurant.

Read more
Answered on 2/22/10, 8:49 pm


Related Questions & Answers

More Labor and Employment Law questions and answers in California