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UInstructor at a Not-for-Profit Theater Company Was an Employee, Not an Independent Contractor

The Third Department determined a playwrighting instructor at  a not-for-profit theater company, Primary Stages Company, was an employee entitled to unemployment insurance benefits:

We note that, for purposes of our review, we consider instructors and teachers to be professionals … . Accordingly, in deciding if such individuals are employees, the pertinent inquiry is “whether the purported employer retains control of important aspects of the services performed” … .

Here, Primary Stages utilized an informal process in retaining claimant, as it was familiar with her through her affiliation with a writers’ group and simply inquired if she was interested in teaching writing classes. Claimant responded in the affirmative and entered into a written agreement with Primary Stages under which she was paid a flat fee of $1,900 per class. Primary Stages furnished the classroom and also provided a teaching assistant. Although claimant retained the discretion to set the course curriculum, claimant and Primary Stages worked together to establish the class schedule that Primary Stages then distributed to prospective students. Primary Stages was responsible for providing all school facilities and a teaching assistant, finding students to fill the classes and collecting their tuition. The school cancelled classes if there was low enrollment, in which case the instructor would not be paid. If claimant could not teach a class, she needed to notify Primary Stages and, if she or other instructors were unable to complete a course assignment, Primary Stages would find a replacement whose selection was often based upon the recommendation of the instructor. Furthermore, Primary Stages circulated an evaluation form to students for feedback on the instructor at the end of the course and, if the evaluation was unsatisfactory, it would not rehire that instructor. Matter of Wilner (Primary Stages Co. Inc.–Commissioner of Labor), 2015 NY Slip Op 03902, 3rd Dept 5-7-15

 

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