Freelancer Contracts

More and more companies are relying on temporary help to balance their work­load. If 20 hours' work a week is needed on an account, it is more cost-effective to use a freelancer for 20 hours a week than to hire a full-time employee who is busy only half the time. The drawback is that some firms use temporary help to get around laws and regulations that apply to employees. The firm may save money, but the "temporaries" are denied regular employee benefits.

Generally, a freelancer is not expected to conform to the rules governing regular employees. A freelancer is an independent contractor. Among the matters covered in the freelancer's contract should be ownership of work produced by the freelancer, maintenance of confidentiality, terms of payment. The job should be paid per unit or item produced, not per hour worked. Also, it is customary to bar the freelancer from being employed directly by the client but not by a competing agency.