Assalaamu alaykom. I work in a company for which I make a lot of profit, about 60% by me alone. I asked them several times to increase my salary, but in vain; so I start to secretly work with some clients to earn more money but with no harm to my company for which I still work hard with no increase of salary yet. The directors know that I secretly work but they say nothing and pretend not to know anything about it! is the money that I earn from these clients halal given that I harm no one? It is the opposite, the clients are happy, and my directors earn a lot and also the workers, who get bonuses. Please advice. May Allaah reward you.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

As long as this extra work with the company's clients is conducted outside of the regular work hours at the company, then the basic principle is that there is no harm in that even if the company does not allow it because the employee is entitled to use his time aside from the regular work hours as he wishes on condition that this does not negatively affect or undermine his work during the regular work hours.

However, if the company stipulated in the employment contract that the employee must not work outside of the regular work hours or work with any of the company’s clients outside the company's regular line of business, then he is obliged to abide by this condition. The Prophet said, “Muslims are bound by their conditions, except the conditions that make what is lawful unlawful, or make what is unlawful lawful.” [At-Tirmithi: good-authentic] Hence, it is impermissible for the employee in this case to do extra work with the company’s clients unless the company permits it.

But if the additional work is conducted during the regular work hours, then it is entirely impermissible unless the company permits it because the employee is a private worker, i.e. whose working time is devoted to a specific employer for specified times. Accordingly, it is impermissible for such an employee to carry out any other work during the working hours (outside the regular line of business) except with the permission of the employer.

In brief, the additional work that you do with the company’s clients is deemed permissible if it is conducted outside the regular work hours and as long as the company does not stipulate that the employees must not engage in any other work aside from the company's regular line of business. On the other hand, if the extra work is conducted during the working hours or the company stipulates that the employees must not work aside from the company's line of business, then it is impermissible for you to engage in such work except with the permission of the company.

The fact that the company’s profits are mostly the product of your efforts and that your salary has not increased does not affect the previously mentioned rulings in your case.

Allaah knows best.