Compressed Pattern, LLC v. Employment Department Tax Section

293 P.3d 1053, 253 Or. App. 254, 2012 WL 6115080, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1323
CourtCourt of Appeals of Oregon
DecidedOctober 31, 2012
DocketT71163; A146647
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 293 P.3d 1053 (Compressed Pattern, LLC v. Employment Department Tax Section) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Oregon primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Compressed Pattern, LLC v. Employment Department Tax Section, 293 P.3d 1053, 253 Or. App. 254, 2012 WL 6115080, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1323 (Or. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

SCHUMAN, P. J.

Petitioner, an architectural design company, hired Jason Singer to provide drafting services on some of petitioner’s projects. The Employment Department Tax Section sent a Notice of Tax Assessment to petitioner, claiming that petitioner had employed Singer for part of2009 but had not paid employment taxes on his wages for that period. Petitioner requested a hearing on the assessment and argued to an administrative law judge (ALJ) that Singer was an independent contractor rather than petitioner’s employee. The ALJ disagreed with petitioner, concluded that petitioner’s payments to Singer were wages subject to employment taxation, and upheld the tax assessment. Petitioner now seeks judicial review of the ALJ’s final order, arguing that the ALJ erred in interpreting and applying one of the criteria that, by statute, establishes that a person is an independent contractor: that the person is engaged in an “independently established business.” ORS 670.600(2)(b), (3). For the reasons that follow, we affirm.

We state the facts consistently with the ALJ’s unchallenged factual findings. McDowell v. Employment Dept., 348 Or 605, 608, 236 P3d 722 (2010) (the agency’s unchallenged findings are the facts for purposes of judicial review).

In January 2009, Singer was laid off by GBD Architects, where he had been an architectural intern since 2002. As an architectural intern, Singer’s duties had included drafting architectural and construction drawings and schematics using computer aided design (CAD) software. After he was laid off, Singer began looking for employment opportunities.

Singer was personally acquainted with petitioner’s owners, Arielle and Travis Weedman. Petitioner provides architectural design services, as well as branding services such as logo and website design. The company, however, does not provide drafting services. The Weedmans knew that Singer had been laid off by GBD Architects and that Singer had experience as a draftsman.

[256]*256In the summer of 2009, Singer began providing drafting services on certain of petitioner’s projects. Singer and petitioner orally agreed that Singer would perform those drafting services at a rate of $35.00 per hour. Petitioner paid Singer periodically, depending on when Singer sent petitioner a statement of the time that he had spent working on a project. Singer’s invoices also included a brief description of the work he performed for petitioner. Petitioner did not pay any employment taxes on the amounts it paid to Singer, and instead of reporting its payments to Singer as wages, provided Singer with a Form 1099 indicating that he had received miscellaneous income from petitioner.

Under their arrangement, petitioner provided Singer with design specifications and general deadlines for completing drawings, but otherwise left it up to Singer to complete the work. Singer set his own hours, and petitioner did not provide him with office or work space, with any equipment or supplies to perform drafting work, or with an e-mail address or business cards. Nor did petitioner hold Singer out to its customers or the public as petitioner’s employee.

In fact, Singer actually performed the drafting work for petitioner at the office of GBD Architects, his previous employer. GBD Architects allowed Singer to use, at no cost to him, the company’s offices, computers, and CAD software. When traveling to petitioner’s projects to take pictures and measurements, Singer used his own vehicle and was not reimbursed for mileage. Singer also used his own tape measure, pens, pencils, and paper to perform drafting work for petitioner, and he used a camera that he borrowed from his girlfriend.

Between January 2009 and April 2010, Singer also performed some drafting work for others besides petitioner. In January 2009, one of Singer’s friends, an architect, approached Singer about working together on a project to convert a garage to a workshop. Singer agreed to prepare the drawings, and the client paid Singer and his friend a fee of $1,500, of which Singer received $1,200. In February 2010, Singer began providing drafting services to Manion, a furniture company, after one of the principals [257]*257of GBD Architects had referred Manion to Singer. On two other occasions (in September 2009 and April 2010), Singer submitted bids to client referrals from petitioner, but Singer was not awarded those jobs. Singer did not carry liability insurance or performance bonds for any of the drafting services he provided to petitioner or others.

Although Singer provided only drafting services between January 2009 and April 2010, he was also working toward completing the examinations necessary to obtain his license as an architect. Singer had taken seven licensing exams, and paid $220 for each exam.

On March 3, 2010, the Employment Department Tax Section mailed a Notice of Tax Assessment to petitioner. That notice stated that petitioner had paid wages to Singer in the third and fourth quarters of 2009 but had not paid employment taxes on those wages. Petitioner appealed that determination, and the Employment Department referred the matter to the Office of Administrative Hearings, which appointed an ALJ to hear the appeal.

The issue before the ALJ was whether Singer had been an employee whose wages were subject to employment taxes or, rather, whether he had been an independent contractor whose payment was exempt from such taxes. See ORS 657.040(1) (“Services performed by an individual for remuneration are deemed to be employment subject to this chapter unless and until it is shown to the satisfaction of the Director of the Employment Department that the individual is an independent contractor, as that term is defined in ORS 670.600.”). The question reduced to whether Singer met the statutory definition of an independent contractor set out in ORS 670.600 — and, more specifically, whether Singer was “customarily engaged in an independently established business.”1 ORS 670.600(2)(b). For purposes of that statute, a person is

[258]*258“considered to be customarily engaged in an independently established business if any three of the following [five] requirements are met:
“(a) The person maintains a business location:
* * * *
“(b) The person bears the risk of loss related to the business or the provision of services * * *.
* * Hi *
“(c) The person provides contracted services for two or more different persons within a 12-month period, or the person routinely engages in business advertising, solicitation or other marketing efforts reasonably calculated to obtain new contracts to provide similar services.
“(d) The person makes a significant investment in the business * * *.
* * * *

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Bluebook (online)
293 P.3d 1053, 253 Or. App. 254, 2012 WL 6115080, 2012 Ore. App. LEXIS 1323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/compressed-pattern-llc-v-employment-department-tax-section-orctapp-2012.