Opinion ID: 380347
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Employment Relationship with Harman Unlimited

Text: 25 Billy Harman was vice president and chief executive officer of Harman Unlimited, a firm whose primary business was furnishing welding and sandblasting services. The record indicates that in early October 1976, Billy Harman contacted Clarence Hansen and sought help from Hansen in obtaining new business for Harman Unlimited. Hansen agreed to do what he could for Harman Unlimited. In return, Billy Harman agreed to pay Hansen an unspecified commission for any new work that Hansen brought into the office. During the month of October Hansen contacted several companies on behalf of Harman Unlimited and was instrumental in getting Harman Unlimited included on Amoco Production's approved list of contractors. When Hansen went offshore in late October to conduct the safety inspections on the Amoco Production oil rigs, he continued to promote Harman Unlimited. While on the offshore platforms he distributed Harman Unlimited cards and literature. His efforts on behalf of Harman Unlimited were apparently quite extensive, since Amoco Production's platform foreman listed Hansen as an employee of Harman Unlimited on the meal and bunk rosters, in the production reports, and on the accident report. 26 Harman Unlimited offered evidence to show that there was no employment relationship. Harman Unlimited established that it had absolutely no control over Clarence Hansen's activities and that it furnished him no equipment. There was no written employment contract, no specified compensation rate, and no payments were ever made to Hansen. Its major contention is that Hansen was actually an employee of Oilfield Safety. It points out that Hansen was on Oilfield Safety's payroll, that Oilfield Safety handled his tax withholdings, that Hansen worked out of Oilfield Safety's offices, gave Oilfield Safety as his business address, gave Oilfield Safety's telephone number as the location where he could be reached, drove an Oilfield Safety Automobile, and was paid by Oilfield Safety. Harman Unlimited argues that Hansen was an employee of Oilfield Safety and, at best, had an independent contractor relationship with it. 27 Once again, there is conflicting evidence about the existence of an employment relationship. Indeed, an analysis of the relationship under the common-law right to control test might lead to the conclusion that Hansen was not an employee of Harman Unlimited. An examination of the relationship pursuant to the relative nature of the work test, however, convinces us that the ALJ and Benefits Review Board did not err in holding that Hansen was a Harman Unlimited employee. In October 1976 Harman Unlimited was in dire financial straights. Billy Harman, the executive officer, turned to Clarence Hansen, an individual he knew would be able to obtain business for Harman Unlimited. He asked Clarence Hansen to use his contacts in the oil industry to promote Harman Unlimited and attract new customers. The nature of such a job virtually prohibits a supervisor from controlling the details of the work. That does not mean, however, that there should not be an employment relationship for the purposes of the LHWCA. Promotional activities were certainly a regular part of Harman Unlimited's business and had to be continuous in nature in order to ensure financial success. Further, this Court is unwilling to characterize Hansen's salesmanship as a separate calling typically expected to carry its own accident burden. There is substantial evidence to support the finding that the nature of Clarence Hansen's work in relation to the regular business of Harman Unlimited made him an employee.