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Employment and Pole
Hi all!
I’m coming back from a break but this has been weighing heavily on my mind for awhile and I wondered if anyone else has experienced something like this.
A few years ago, I confided in a coworker about my love of pole and how empowering it was for me. This coworker was thriled and shared her own experiences and we talked at length about how I was teaching at a local studio, what great exercise it was, how empowering, etc. A few days later, I was called into my bosses office and was asked if I was a pole dancer. I was informed that if I was “making money” from it, I could be fired as it violated the code of ethics I took when I started working in my particular profession. I had to quit my studio job, and my friendship with that particular coworker has suffered since then.
Since then though, I’ve been almost hypersensitive to social media and what I share, who I share with, what I upload, etc. This event happened years ago, but now I’m scared that my early 20 adventures could be discovered and that I’d lose my job. I’m not talking just studio classes in sweat pants, I’m talking burlesque troupes, nude modeling, etc.
I feel like a shell of my former self because I used to applaud that stuff and was proud of my history; now I’m terrified it will come out to the “wrong people” and I could be fired from my current job.
Has anyone else ever experienced something like that?? I think that fear and projection are ruling my little brain right now which is ridiculous!!!!!
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8 Replies
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I don’t know what kind of industry you work in, or exactly what all the laws in the US are but as far as I know your employer CANNOT tell you what you can and can’t do on personal time! That’s why it is PERSONAL. I would really look into this because that is crazy!
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I would have to agree. This is pole fitness. They cannot tell you what to do. If you are worried, create another name for social media and another email that it can’t trace back to you. Also when post images you can hide your face with certain tricks if you still feel they can figure out who you are.
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When it comes to other forms of employment, there is usually a section in your contract which states you agree not to take on any additional paid work outside of your regular job without prior discussion etc etc. SO in that vein yes, regardless of what the extra work is, if you have signed that contract then you have agreed to their conditions, so by working as a pole instructor on the side you could effectively be in breech of your contract.
However, you should be able to do whatever you want in your leisure time that should have no impact on your job, but I can appreciate that in some industries it is harder than others. But for the legal side of things, if it is a hobby and you are not earning any money from it then technically it’s nothing to do with your job -
Hi Sascha Poles,
One question and a few comments. In the profession you mention where you had to quit your studio job because it went against your contract, it appears that you would have gone against your contract no matter what job you had where you made money. So unless I’m misreading, it had less to do with the nature of the work but more the fact that you were making money.
Now in reference to this: “… now I’m scared that my early 20 adventures could be discovered and that I’d lose my job. I’m not talking just studio classes in sweat pants, I’m talking burlesque troupes, nude modeling, etc.”
You can’t erase your past, and you need not be ashamed of it. Unless you really are ashamed of it, for whatever reasons. Some employers may not care what activities you partook in in the past. Some might even think what you did was cool. Still others might form negative connotations of your past activities and might not want you representing their company. Going into a job it is impossible to know on which side employers will fall. You can live your life in dread that someone might find out about your past. If no one ever finds out, then you’ll have wasted years of precious time worrying about something that never happened. Instead, you can take what comes and know that you will be able to deal with whatever life throws at you.
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As others have said depending on your contract you absolutely can be fired for having a second job. Additionally in the US some employers require you to sign a contract with a morality clause and they absolutely can dire you if you violate it. Other employers have policies about social media use. My employer doesn’t much care what I do in my free time, but they absolutely do care what people can find when you type my name into a search engine, so I have to be careful. If you have questions about this I suggest reading your employment contract and possibly talking to a lawyer.
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I simply can’t imagine an employment contract saying you can’t have another job. Around here most jobs are part time so EVERYONE has at least 2 jobs!
That just seems strange to me. Why would anyone care if you have another job, regard less of what it is, unless you are in a position where you are on call 24/7. And that just sux anyways.
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I’m not sure about part time roles it would make sense they would have to give you more flexibility, but my last full time office job definitely had that statement in the contract. It’s not to say that they would refuse if I asked them, and i think my boss probably wouldn’t have cared if I had been teaching pole on the side, but he was a really cool chilled out guy & the contract did make it clear that it shouldn’t be done without prior discussion… =\ so yeah just have to be careful; you just always have to know exactly what’s in your contact cos I’ve seen some weird conditions before haha like ’employee must not be seen travelling to work in uniform’ wtf?? It was just a shirt with the bar’s name on it! But yeah they can say whatever they want and if u sign it you’ve agreed so it is shit some places can be real dicks =\
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I agree you do have to be careful. NEVER sign anything you havn’t read or don’t want to agree to.
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