Moonlighting policy: how to read yours before expert calls

A moonlighting policy is the rule your employer sets for paid work you do outside your job: whether it is allowed, what it may not touch, and who has to approve it. If you want paid expert calls, an advisory role or consulting on the side, read yours before the first engagement, because it decides what you can say yes to.

You are in large company. In September 2026, 5.5% of employed Americans, about 9 million people, held more than one job, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Someone paid to talk about their own industry has more reason than most to read the fine print.

This post covers how to read the policy and how to ask for approval. For pricing, formats and taxes, see the consulting side hustle guide. This is not legal advice. When a clause is unclear, check with HR or an employment lawyer before you rely on your reading of it.

1. Find every document that sets the rule, because it is rarely titled "moonlighting"

Few companies have a page called "moonlighting policy." The rule is usually spread across four documents:

The offer letter or employment agreement.
The employee handbook, often under "outside employment" or "outside activities."
The code of conduct, under "conflicts of interest."
The invention assignment or confidentiality agreement you signed on day one.

Open each one and search for "outside," "conflict," "invention" and "approval." Copy the exact wording, because a paraphrase is how people talk themselves into things.

2. Work out which kind of policy you have, then act on that

Policies fall into three broad kinds, and each calls for a different move.

What the policy says	What to do
No paid outside work at all	Do not start. Ask for a written exception for a narrow scope, or wait.
Outside work needs approval	Ask in writing before the first paid engagement (section 7).
Outside work is fine unless it conflicts	Check each engagement against the conflict clause, and keep a record that you did.

If the policy is silent, treat it as the third kind and still tell your manager. Silence in the handbook does not stop a conflict-of-interest clause in your code of conduct from applying.

3. Test each engagement against the conflict-of-interest clause, not the topic in general

The conflict clause is where expert calls go wrong. A call about "trends in hospital procurement" sounds harmless until the client turns out to be your employer's competitor, or an investor deciding whether to buy shares in your employer's biggest customer.

The US government's ethics rules give a useful public test. Under 5 CFR 2635.802, a federal employee's outside activity conflicts with the job when it is barred by statute or agency rule, or when it would require stepping back from "matters so central or critical" to the job that their ability to do it "would be materially impaired." Translate that to a private job: if the side work would make you step away from decisions your day job depends on, it conflicts.

Expert networks already screen for the obvious case. GLG's member programs page gives sample language in which the member says "I would not participate in consultations about our company or any confidential topic." Guidepoint says on its expert page that "our compliance team reviews every engagement against the rules of your current employer or fiduciary duties." Their screening protects them; your own check protects your job.

4. Treat confidential information as the line you never cross

Expect your policy and your confidentiality agreement to forbid sharing the employer's confidential information, and expect the list to be wide: unannounced products, pricing, customer names, internal numbers, hiring plans. Your skill and judgment are yours to be paid for; the facts you learned on the job are not.

The federal version is blunt. Under 5 CFR 2635.703, employees may not trade on nonpublic information or allow its improper use to further "their own private interests or those of another." If the side work is an expert call with an investor, add securities law on top: the MNPI guide explains what material non-public information is and what to say when a question gets too close.

5. Keep company time and equipment completely out of it

Take calls on your own time, on your own phone and laptop, from a personal calendar and a personal account. Two of the legal protections in the next sections (California's invention rule and New York's off-duty law) only apply to activity on your own time without the employer's equipment. Use the work laptop once and you may have given those protections away.

6. Read the invention assignment clause, then check your state's limit on it

An invention assignment agreement gives the employer rights to things you create, often including things that relate to its business even when you made them on your own time. A few states cap how far that reaches. California's Labor Code section 2870 says an assignment clause "shall not apply to an invention that the employee developed entirely on his or her own time without using the employer's equipment, supplies, facilities, or trade secret information." It carves out inventions that relate to the employer's business or research, or that result from work done for the employer. Clauses that reach further are "unenforceable." Section 2872 requires the employer to give written notice of this limit when you sign. Washington's RCW 49.44.140 has nearly the same rule and the same notice requirement.

Notice the carve-out. Expert work in your own industry usually "relates to the employer's business," so these laws give you less room than they first appear to. For a call where you only answer questions, this rarely matters, since advice is not an invention. It matters a lot if you write code, design a product or help a startup build something. For those, get the employer's written agreement that it claims no rights in the work.

7. Know what off-duty conduct laws protect, and what they leave out

Some states protect lawful activity outside work hours. They help less with paid consulting than people hope.

California. Labor Code section 96(k) lets the Labor Commissioner take claims for wages lost through demotion, suspension or firing "for lawful conduct occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer's premises."
Colorado. C.R.S. 24-34-402.5 makes it an unfair practice to fire someone for "any lawful activity off the premises of the employer during nonworking hours," unless the restriction relates to a bona fide occupational requirement or "is necessary to avoid a conflict of interest with any responsibilities to the employer or the appearance of such a conflict of interest."
New York. Labor Law section 201-d protects "legal recreational activities," but defines them as leisure activities "for which the employee receives no compensation." Paid consulting does not qualify under that clause, and the law also excludes activity that "creates a material conflict of interest" with the employer's business interest.

The pattern: off-duty laws protect what you do on your own time until it touches the employer's business. Paid expert work in your own field usually does. Do not plan on a statute to rescue an engagement your policy forbids.

8. If you are a federal employee, the rules are stricter and written down

The federal rules are a moonlighting policy written out in public, worth skimming even if you work in the private sector.

Your agency can require prior approval for outside work through its own supplemental regulation (5 CFR 2635.803).
You generally cannot be paid for teaching, speaking or writing that "relates to the employee's official duties," which includes topics drawn substantially from nonpublic information and matters you worked on in the past year (5 CFR 2635.807). The rule makes an exception for most career employees speaking or writing on subjects within their discipline, even when those touch the agency's general area.
Serving as an expert witness in a case where the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest needs approval from your agency's ethics official (5 CFR 2635.805). The post on how to become an expert witness covers that work in full.

Talk to your agency's designated ethics official before your first paid engagement.

9. Ask your manager in writing, with a narrow scope and a cap

Managers approve what they can picture. Expert networks build their process around this: GLG asks for confirmation "from your company's HR, Legal, or similar group," says a confirmation from the CEO, CFO, chief compliance officer or head of HR also works, and says it may be able to enroll self-employed, retired or independent members automatically. Its sample note even offers that fees "can be made payable to my employer."

Here is a made-up example of the request. Amara runs warehouse automation at a grocery distributor and has been invited to paid calls about robotics vendors.

I've been invited to occasional paid one-hour calls with investors and companies researching warehouse automation. I'd like your approval to take them on these terms: no calls about our company, our customers, our suppliers or our competitors; nothing confidential; all calls outside work hours on my own equipment; no more than four a month. I'll check each request against these terms before accepting and tell you if one looks close. Happy to talk it through with HR if that's easier.

Send it to your manager and copy whoever owns the policy (usually HR or legal). Keep the reply. If the answer is no, ask what scope would be acceptable, for example "no investor calls, but advisory work for startups that do not compete with us is fine."

On Instant Expert, a buyer invites you to a specific paid short call or a written or voice answer and sets the amount up front, so you can check each request against your approval before you say yes. You receive the full amount offered, you can reply with your own higher price, and payment goes out about 24 hours after a call. You can claim your profile to set the rate buyers start from, or see open paid requests on the request board.

Your first step: find the four documents, search them for "outside" and "conflict," and write down what yours actually says.