Corporate counsel said it wouldn't be worth pursuing anything against him. He won't get any positive references from anyone, because he tried to make the two-job situation work by shifting more work to his teammates and doing the bare minimum to not get fired.
The real risk is that the companies find out about each other and you lose both jobs. This is a real possibility if your new employer does a background check and calls the old employer to confirm start and end dates, which I suspect will become standard practice in any remote company going forward.
The only way the two-jobs scenario works out for anyone is if you can find two companies where both managers aren't good at managing performance. Either that, or if you're a superhuman developer who can actually put in the equivalent of two 40-hour workweeks with the same energy for both companies, in which case you're better off getting a single 40-hour FAANG job that pays as much as two normal jobs anyway.
I technically have 3 jobs, two unrelated "full-time" SE roles, and 1 mom&pop store where I handle all but day-to-day operations (handled by the gf).
To be cold bloody honest, unless you are SE for a serie-A start-up a 40h weeks is probably 20h work, 20h bs. If you were SE for a serie-A start-up, a 40h week would probably be 80h-paid-20h anyway.
You mean to say that you are collecting two paychecks under the pretense of each company thinking you are working full time?
Even taking on a side job contract has IP issues. Most companies claim full ownership of any IP produced by employees at any time, on any devices.
There’s also workman’s comp and medical insurance, unemployment insurance and all other issues that conflict with multiple full time employment.
I know people that work full time and do a side gig. Either their own business or a part time under the table contract job.
I’ve never known anyone work multiple full time SE jobs. That leaves easily discoverable paper trail.
If, for example, he needed to decline health coverage at one employer he can simply say he has it through a partner. It will not be questioned. The workers comp and unemployment insurance won't matter. Multiple jobs are normal for many folks and the payroll companies and government won't care.
Unstated, the people who are allowed to do this are superstars who are incredibly productive even at a reduced capacity. Companies view it in terms of retention risk: 75% of a superstar is much better than forcing the superstar to choose, which may leave you with 0% of a superstar.