RE: Article on Contracting vs Employee

[Scottie Lover <iluvscotties -at- mindspring -dot- com>]

At 10:32 AM 02/28/2000 -0700, Higgins, Lisa wrote:
>I think it's perfectly reasonable for an employer to lay claim to
>work an employee does within the same vertical industry, and
>I've had employment ontracts that had provisions such as this
>The nature of full-time professional employment doesn't really 
>have provisions for weekends and evenings, and a telecommuting 
>arrangement could certainly blur the lines further. As such, I think 
>it's perfectly reasonable for my employer to lay claim to anything I 
>write about telecommunications while I'm employed here, and I'm
>fairly certain that that's what my employment contract states. 

I respectfully disagree.  I create and design applications and utilities,
and write my own documentation and help modules whenever possible (which is
why I love this wonderful list).  If I spend most of my evening and weekend
hours perfecting a generic utility, and then write an article teaching it
(or, even if I were to decide to market that utility), why should that
belong to my employer?  I was creating and designing applications (and
writing) long before I joined his company. He benefits by getting to use
them for free -- and for all the experience I gleaned from volunteering so
much free time to mastering the program and language.

I would readily understand this (and agree that the employer deserved full
rights and compensation for anything I created) had I done so during
business hours or paid overtime, or if my accomplishments were solely
attributable to training he'd provided.  However, when I buy my own books,
videos, and software to master my field, and volunteer my free time
studying and practicing, the results should belong to me -- not to someone
for whom I just happened to be working at the time.

JMHO.