Moonlighting during working hours could land employees in trouble, Lithuania's State Labour Inspectorate has warned, amid growing online chatter about combining two jobs to boost income.
The warning follows a wave of discussion on Reddit, where users have debated whether they can take on a second job during quieter moments of their shift.
One security guard, for instance, said he was required to remain at his post for his full shift despite long stretches with little to do, and wondered whether he could use that downtime productively.
Another user described successfully juggling two jobs for two years, calling the experience worthwhile.
A third, who works on-call shifts, asked whether they could take on extra work while on standby.
What the law says
According to the Labour Inspectorate, Lithuanian law recognises three types of standby duty: active duty, passive duty at the workplace, and passive duty at home.
− Active duty − the employee actively carries out their job while on standby. Example: a security guard or watchman.
− Passive duty (on-site) − the employee must remain at the workplace or another location specified by the employer, ready to perform their duties if needed. Example: a firefighter or emergency service worker.
− Passive duty (at home) − the employee is off-site during their rest time but must remain available to act, or to come into work, if required. Example: an IT specialist who is off duty and free to spend their rest time as they wish, but who may be called in, or asked to fix an issue remotely, if the company's systems go down.
Active and passive duty carried out at the workplace count as working time, whereas passive standby at home is generally treated as rest time − except for the period after an employee is called out and begins actual work, which then counts as working time, along with related tasks such as travelling to the workplace.
The Inspectorate says that by signing an employment contract, a worker commits to carrying out agreed duties on behalf of a specific employer.
"During working time − for example, during active or passive standby − an employee could not work on behalf of another employer. An employer could regard such conduct as a breach of employment duties," the Inspectorate said.
Working for a second employer during passive standby at home − while off duty and not yet called out − is not prohibited in itself. However, once called out, the employee must respond and carry out their duties.
"This could create a situation where an employee would need to work for both employers simultaneously, which is incompatible with properly fulfilling one's job duties," the Inspectorate noted.
Because contracts with different employers constitute separate legal relationships, the obligations under each must be met independently.
In practice, the Inspectorate's Labour Law Division considers it very difficult to genuinely combine work for a second employer during at-home standby, given the risk of being unable to fulfil obligations to both should a call-out occur − something the primary employer may treat as a breach of duty.
Employees are free to work for another employer during their genuine rest time, but must still comply with rest-period rules. Under Lithuanian law, working hours, whether at one job or several, must not exceed 12 hours per working day (shift), excluding lunch breaks, or 60 hours per week.
Tax implications
Lithuania's State Tax Inspectorate has also clarified how income from two jobs is taxed. Romas Karmaza, senior adviser at the authority's Legal Department, said earnings from multiple employers are combined and taxed under standard rules, at rates of 20%, 25% or 32% depending on total annual income.
Employment income also qualifies for a tax-free allowance, which is deducted from taxable pay to reduce the income tax owed. The allowance decreases as annual income rises, and because it is only finalised at year-end, employees can request that a monthly allowance be applied at one workplace during the year to reduce monthly tax deductions.
In such cases, the monthly allowance is calculated using only the income earned at that particular job, meaning the employee must recalculate their entitlement at year-end − taking all taxable income into account − and settle any resulting tax due.
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