This agreement protects you and your business

In my practice as a workplace HR consultant and investigator, I have come across several instances where a “work for hire” agreement would have saved a lot of time, expense and headaches for my clients. Many of these have involved situations where a former freelance or contracted employee has attempted to sell or to profit off of company work product that they subsequently represent as their own.

You may ask why you need this if you are just a small business. While I am not an attorney, the answer is that it protects you and your business. This is especially important if you are involved in any intellectual property such as branding, books, inventions, music, design etc. You need to establish ownership rights in the event of any conflict or legal issues that could arise in the future. Examples of this could be the contracted person who had done the work for your business is now selling the work or publishing it under another company. Another example is a freelance writer that writes a blog or a newsletter for you and says they own the materials. Or a contract employee that designs and writes a marketing or sales brochure for your company and tries to reuse the same exact thing for another client. You want to make sure that you retain ownership of these work products. These examples are why a “work for hire” agreement will ensure that you retain all the rights to the work product developed during the scope of their temporary or freelance employment with you.

Since small businesses often utilize contract and freelance employees, you need to understand what a “work for hire” agreement is. It is essentially a legal document outlining the agreement between your company and the contractor that states that the work product created during your business relationship remains the property of your business. It also protects any intellectual property or proprietary information for your business. It is similar to a hiring agreement where the work product remains company property and often includes confidentiality and nondisclosure parameters. It can also include what happens if the contract is terminated.

As I mentioned, I am not an attorney and I suggest you always consult an attorney to draw up a “work for hire” agreement. Be sure to do this prior to hiring and before any work product is developed. It must be agreed to and signed by all parties. Basically, it should include:

• Details of parties
• The kind of service to be commissioned for
• Mention of compensations
• Details about ownership rights of the content created
• Term of agreement
• Confidentiality and privacy of the work done and the one who does it
• Termination of the agreement and reasons for the same
• Representation and warranties
• Indemnity
• Limitation of Liability
• Severability
• Legal fees and salary of the employee
• Waiver
• The agreement's governing laws and jurisdictions for the same
• Signature of both the parties

A simple “work for hire” agreement will protect your business and your work product in the event there a situation arises that may for a legal remedy.

Timothy A Dimoff, CPP, Founder and President of SACS Consulting and Training Center, is a nationally recognized expert in corporate security and HR issues, with over 40 years of experience in workplace security, labor and human resource consulting to corporations, associations, religious entities, educational facilities, non-profit organizations and others.  He consults, trains and develops solutions for workplace issues including substance abuse, management training, sexual harassment, documentation procedures, liability reduction, hiring/firing, pre-employment screening, employee motivation, workplace violence, bullying, corporate investigations, internal theft, security analysis/vulnerability assessment and security measures. He provides commentary and profiling analysis for television, radio and print media worldwide.

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