Employee versus Independent Contractor. Clifford Aymes was hired by Jonathan Bonelli of Sun Island Sales, Inc, to create a computer program for Sun Island to use in maintaining records of its cash receipts, inventory, sales, figures, and other data. No

Question

agreement was reached as to ownership rights in the program that Aymes developed, called CSALIB. Aymes did most of his programming at the Sun Island office. Although Bonelli gave Aymes frequent instructions as to what he wanted from the program, Aymes generally worked alone and enjoyed considerable autonomy in his work. He worked fairly regular hours, but he was not always paid by the hour—occasionally, he submitted bills (invoices) to Sun Island for his work. Aymes never received any employee benefits, such as health insurance, and Sun Island never withheld federal and state taxes from Aymes's paycheck; nor did it pay any Social Security taxes on Aymes's earnings. When Bonelli unilaterally cut Aymes's hours in violation of an alleged oral agreement, Aymes left Sun Island and demanded compensation for Sun Island's use of CSALIB. Bonelli refused to pay Aymes for the program's use and also stated that he would not pay Aymes $14,560 in back wages unless Aymes signed a form releasing all rights in CSALIB. Aymes then sued Bonelli and Sun Island for copyright infringement, and the court had to decide who owned the copyright in the program. Central to the determination of this issue was whether Aymes was an employee of Sun Island or an independent contractor. What should the court decide, and why?

Answer 1

Employee versus independent contractor
The court surmised that "the significant factors supporting Island's contention that Aymes was an employee include Island's right to control the means of CSALIB's creation and Island's right to assign other projects. The significant factors supporting Aymes's argument that he was an independent contractor include: the level of skill needed to create CSALIB; the decision of Island not to offer him benefits; and his payment of his own social security taxes." Regarding other factors as to whether a party is an employee or an independent contractor, the court decided that they were "either indeterminate, because they were evenly balanced between the parties, or of marginal significance, because they were inapplicable to these facts." The court concluded that "the only major factor strongly supporting Island is that it directed the creation of the [computer] program. Island did reserve the right to assign Aymes other projects, which is a major factor, but under these facts this was not necessarily inconsistent with an independent contractor relationship. Supporting Aymes's argument that he was an independent contractor, however, are several important factors—his skill, and the tax and benefit factors—that outweigh the elements supporting Island." Other factors "cannot outweigh the significance we attach to Island's choice to treat Aymes as an independent contractor when it was to Island's financial benefit. Now that this treatment is no longer to Island's benefit, the company must still adhere to the choice it made." Thus, the court found "Aymes to be an independent contractor when he was creating CSALIB for Island. Consequently, we hold that CSALIB is not a work for hire. Aymes therefore owns the copyright as author of the program."