Wesley C. and Rhonda A. Wickum - Page 19

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          particular performance of his job.  He relied on his own methods            
          for recruiting, the only control being over the language of the             
          advertisements that he placed.  He decided who would be hired               
          and, in fact, used stricter qualifications to select insurance              
          agents than Combined itself required.  He trained insurance                 
          agents in his own way, following only the broad outlines of the             
          training course.                                                            
               Moreover, he was responsible for most of his own business              
          expenses.  He paid for half the advertising and travel costs and            
          all of his remaining expenses, including a secretary, office                
          equipment, and supplies.  There was a risk he could lose money.             
          He, in fact, did have net losses for some of the months in which            
          he worked.  Respondent argues that he never had a loss at the end           
          of any year; the fact that he was successful does not mean he was           
          an employee rather than an independent contractor.  Since he was            
          primarily compensated by means of override commissions on his               
          agents’ sales, his remuneration depended upon his skill at                  
          managing this sales force effectively and efficiently.  Because             
          Combined ceded to petitioner the ability to substantially affect            
          his agents' compensation (by giving them routes offering greater            
          or lesser remunerative opportunities), petitioner, not Combined,            
          had substantial effective control over the agents within his                
          supervision.                                                                
               Petitioner also sold insurance to a limited extent.                    
          Respondent makes much of the scripted sales talk that petitioner            




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