Peruvian artist?

When an artist is contracted as "work-made-for-hire" are they considered an employee, a service provider, contractor, or some other legal entity?

• A little background: An artist was hired to produce a set number of works under a "work-for-hire" contract. Signed and dated. The contact text specifically states "Artist: refers to the artist that has been commissioned to create produced works for this project" Also: Work-For-Hire: Each work request will be detailed to the artist from a representative of the project. The prices agreed are listed below: $price$ and $price$. The artist must plan the following minimum phases for each request: 1.) Sketch / Contact Sheet 2.) Work Phase 3.) Final submission and review 4.) Minor adjustments on the Final The artists has personal financial troubles, and has debtors. They have assumed that the artist is an employee and have "ordered" us to withhold a % of his wages during each payment period (which, there is no wage... just contract cost). In the debtor's attempt to get money from us, they listed the artist's personal information which we did not know prior to their attempt to collect money. We now have: The Artists's home address The Artist's social security number The amount the artist owes to the debtors in total Our understanding as well as the artist's understanding is that we have a business-to-business relationship, not an employer-to-employee relationship. We are on good terms with the artist. They are great at what they do and we have had no problems with our contract. Is our understanding of our business relationship incorrect? What should the artist do to protect themselves? The release of his SSN by the debtor seems to be bad form in our opinion. The artist's social security number is not required in any process within or because of our work-for-hire contract. We understand we shouldn't take any opinions on the internet at face-value. Just hoping to have a bit of direction and a quick sanity check before we each contact our own lawyers. Thanks!

• Answer:

  If the artist was merely given direction to go off and create his art, without active supervision or management by the company, he likely meets the requirements for being a contractor and not an employee.  Your business attorney is best suited to review all of the pertinent facts and law, however, and to provide you with specific and actionable legal advice on this matter.This answer is not a substitute for professional legal advice....