The Side Job and the Seal
You are a certified engineering technologist in private practice, employed full-time by a consulting firm whose employment agreement says outside work requires written approval. A former client from a project you ran two years ago contacts you at your personal email. He wants you to design a small mezzanine for his warehouse, on your own time, for a flat fee of $4,000, and he wants your seal on the drawings because the building department will not accept them otherwise. The work would be done on weekends using your firm's software, which is installed on your home laptop under the firm's licence. Your firm does not do small mezzanine jobs and has declined this type of work before.
1. What approvals and checks are needed before you accept?
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Several, and all before you accept. First, the employment agreement requires written approval for outside work; get it in writing, not a verbal "fine by me." Second, check whether the firm's professional liability policy covers your outside practice; if it does not, you need your own coverage before sealing anything. Third, the software licence is the firm's, not yours; using it for personal fee-earning work is likely a licence and employment breach, so you need your own licence or the firm's written permission. Fourth, confirm the work is within your competence and your certificate of authorization or practice arrangements permit you to offer services to the public independently.
Also consider the client relationship: he is a former client of the firm, and taking him privately may raise a question about soliciting the firm's clients. Disclose the contact to your firm as part of the approval request.
2. The client is impatient and says the firm already declined the work, so there is no conflict. How do you respond?
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Acknowledge that the firm declined the work and that this reduces, but does not eliminate, the issues. The remaining issues are the employment agreement, insurance, software licensing, and your own authority to practise independently - none of which disappear because the firm said no to the job. Explain that you want to take the work and are pursuing approval, and give him a realistic timeline.
If approval is refused, do not do the work anyway on the theory that the firm did not want it. The agreement is the agreement, and the seal is yours to use only within the arrangements that make your practice lawful and insured. If approval is granted with conditions (own insurance, own software, no firm resources, no firm client solicitation), follow them exactly and keep a record.
3. What if the building department later questions the design and the client assumes your firm stands behind it?
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Prevent that confusion from the start. Your proposal, drawings, and title block must make clear that the work is your independent practice, not your employer's, and identify the entity that carries the liability. Do not use the firm's drawing templates, title block, or email domain. Keep your own project file, calculations, and correspondence.
If a question arises later, respond as the responsible technologist for that work and do not allow the client to route the issue to your employer. If the question reveals an error in your design, follow the same path you would in any practice: notify the client and the authority promptly, propose a remedy, and check whether your insurer should be notified. The fact that it was a weekend side job does not lower the standard of care.