Moonlighting

We use “moonlighting” when someone has another job as well as their main employment. Perhaps they do their main work during daytime on weekdays and do their second job in the evenings or at weekends. They might moonlight to earn extra money, to follow a personal interest or to begin their own business.

Although moonlighting is not illegal in most countries, employers sometimes do not allow it. This could be because it might affect the person’s employment in their main job or because it might put them in competition with their company. Or maybe the employer is worried that the moonlighting might damage the company’s reputation.

Some sample sentences:

• She works in an office but moonlights as a cleaner so that she can pay all her bills.
• He would really like to be a musician but wouldn’t earn enough money at that, so for many years he has been moonlighting in jazz clubs.
• The company fired him when they found out that he had been moonlighting, doing extra work for their clients at a cheaper rate.

Moonlighting is usually different from freelance work. We use “freelance” when, instead of working for a particular employer, someone does work for a number of different clients. Their contracts might be long-term or short-term and often the freelancer sets his or own fee. The advantages of freelancing include flexibility of working hours and location. The disadvantages include a lack of security.

Some sample sentences:

• Since leaving her job, she has been freelancing as an accountant and has been earning a lot more money, but it’s difficult for her to find time for a holiday.
• He tried working as a freelance journalist but prefers the security of having a regular employer.
• Ten years ago he was working as a freelance web designer, now he runs is own very successful business.

Other associated terms are:

• “Full-time” employment – when someone works for perhaps 40 hours a week in one job and has such benefits as holidays and sick leave.
• “Part-time” employment – when someone works for fewer hours, perhaps because they can’t find a full-time job or because they want to spend time looking after their children, for example. Sometimes a person might have more than one part-time job. Often part-time employment doesn’t provide the same benefits as full-time work.
• “Self employed” – when someone works for their own business rather than for an employer. They have flexibility about where and when to work. They are paid by the customer or client rather than by an employer. They are responsible for organising their own tax, insurance, premises, equipment and so on.

Going back to “moonlighting” you might occasionally hear the phrase a ”moonlight flit”. We use this when someone leaves without warning – perhaps to avoid paying a bill or to avoid trouble.

Some sample sentences:

• When she realised that she couldn’t pay her rent yet again, she did a midnight flit and now we don’t know where she is.
• He did a midnight flit so that the police wouldn’t find him

_{Posted by Graham}

_{With thanks to Yulia for the idea.}