Tech CEO Calls Working Two Jobs A 'Form of Theft And Deception'— Fires Engineers Earning $140,000 For Holding Secret Second Full-Time Jobs

Working two jobs to make ends meet? That's survival. Working two full-time jobs, lying about it, and pulling in over $250,000 while barely showing up? That's what Canopy CEO Davis Bell calls outright theft.

Back in 2022, Bell took to LinkedIn to call out a growing trend known as "overemployment"—where remote workers secretly juggle multiple full-time jobs. And he made it very clear where he stands.

"Working two full-time jobs is stealing, and it also involves a great deal of lying and deception," Bell wrote.

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Caught in the Act

According to Bell, two Canopy engineers, who were newly hired at the time, never actually quit their previous jobs at big tech companies. Instead, they collected full salaries from both while pretending to be fully committed. But their cover didn't last long:

"They were trying to be in two meetings at once, etc. Their early performance was really bad, and fortunately, we have great managers who sniffed them out very quickly," he said. 

Both employees were fired, but Bell didn't just let it go—he wanted to highlight the bigger ethical issue.

"I guess some people feel that stealing from companies is less wrong than stealing from individuals," he wrote. "In reality, companies are owned by people… You're stealing from those who are depending on you to get work done and whose careers ride on the success of the companies for which they work."

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‘This Isn't About Side Hustles'

The internet is full of people working multiple jobs—sometimes just to keep the lights on. According to a Bankrate survey, 36% of people had a side hustle in 2024. But Bell told Business Insider that's not what's happening here.

"This is someone who works for a really, really large tech company, so you know they're well compensated there," Bell said.  

The two fired engineers were making $130,000 to $140,000 at Canopy alone—not counting whatever they were pulling in from their other jobs. 

"I think it's pretty clear they were looking for just an extra stream of income without really doing much work," he said. 

Bell isn't against side hustles or second jobs, but when someone takes on two full-time positions, lies about it, and delivers poor performance, he sees it as a scam—not a survival tactic.

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The Warning Signs

Bell shared specific red flags that tipped off his team. While none of these alone proved deception, taken together, they painted a suspicious picture:

• Private LinkedIn profiles—instead of listing Canopy, they hid their work history.
• Skipped company benefits—they didn't sign up for health insurance (which, Bell noted, wasn't a guarantee of wrongdoing, but was true in both cases).
• Always had cameras off in meetings—avoiding face-to-face interactions.
• Slow response times—on Slack and email.
• Frequently late or absent for meetings—without clear reasons.
• Previous work at large companies—where it's easier to go unnoticed.

The Bigger Conversation

Bell's post raises a serious question—is overemployment just workers beating the system, or is it flat-out fraud?

While some argue that companies exploit workers all the time, others agree with Bell that deception is deception, no matter who's doing it.

Either way, employers are catching on, and this may be one hustle that's getting harder to pull off.

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