<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Roger Zuniga:
I work at a salon and am contemplating leaving for a better offer. Although I work in someones shop, I am considered self-employed as I have to incur many of my own costs. I have clients that consistently return to me for service and also refer more people to me. In the event that I should leave, who do the clients truly belong to and do I have the right to retrieve thier information?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
My response:
As an Independent Contractor, those clients are yours, and you have every right to their information. An Independent Contractor doesn't "donate" clientelle. For example, on a smaller scale, the tools of your trade were brought in my you so that you could cut hair, or whatever. Do those tools belong to the owner just because you brought them onto his property? Of course not. The tools of your trade, just like the clients, generate money for the owner, but never confers ownership of those items. Without the tools, no money for you or the owner. Without the clients, no money for you or the owner.
If you were an employee, that would be a different story. However, those clients are coming into the salon because of your talent; not because of the salon. When you leave the salon, you would expect to take your tools of the trade with you, don't you? Same theory goes for the clients. You current salon owner cannot force the clients to stay at his salon and, in the absense of a contract to the contrary, you can take whatever you've generated from the salon.
This is called a "following" and makes you and your services much more valuable to your next salon.
IAAL
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[This message has been edited by I AM ALWAYS LIABLE (edited September 12, 2000).]
