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by altmanaltman 38 days ago
Legally, yes. I mean it still depends on a lot of things but mostly at will employment contracts will have clauses about such things. You will have to get approval from legal before you can get on a board of even a dog rescue or a glove repair company. A practical consideration is simple like if you are a google exec and you are on board of a dog rescue company and that company gets hit with allgeations that you are just shooting all the dogs and selling their meat to some foreign nation. News will cover it as "Google Exec on Board of Evil Dog Rescue Company" so you extend that repuation risk to Google as well since you are actively employed there. Obviously an extereme example but that's the kind of logic they think of.

Morals imo often have nothing to do with law, but fairness does.
1 comments
DANmode 38 days ago
> if you are a google exec

But that’s not who is being discussed. Why create a new topic?

If a low-level employee is part of a rescue accused of shooting all of the dogs, that’s just another day.

> News will cover it as "Google Exec on Board of Evil Dog Rescue Company" so you extend that repuation risk to Google as well since you are actively employed there

No problem with a standard morality clause in the contract, so they can pull the plug when you embarrass them.

I do have a problem with the idea that I need to check in with my employer every time I take a shit in my personal life.

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altmanaltman 37 days ago
Its not a new topic, the same applies for any employee as well. And no that's not just another day from the pov of google. That example was too extreme but even for minor things that can be a security concern etc if they are in active positions like that.

Also we are not talking about pooping? Why change the topic?

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DANmode 37 days ago
I like your shooting all of the dogs example.

That’s why I went with it - yes, a one-of-thousands engineer (or janitor, for that matter) from Google who also headed or even founded a dog shelter that shot all of the dogs is non-news, as far as Google and their legal team are concerned.

Same as an employee’s “pooping”.

Enforce or enact a morality clause, or explicitly pay me not to do things - beyond that, my business after hours is mine.

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