Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia

I was hired as a "Sales/Office Assistant" where my responsibilities were answering phones, taking walk-in customers, entering orders on Quickbooks, sending out newsletters with constant contact, and other general office tasks. My work was not keeping me busy so I began to work on the company's website by adding new products and updating prices. I had a large amount of free time so I began to do some Search Engine Optimization for their website which included custom code, blog articles and some graphic design work as well as taking product photos and other website photos with my personal camera. I had volunteered my camera and I was hoping that they would notice the good work that I was doing and present me with a better job and higher pay. They did recognize it and want me to continue what I was doing, yet they are not willing to pay me for it. A mistake on my part, I know. Do I have any rights to the work that I have done, the photos, graphic designs, or custom HTML code? Normally I know you wouldn't because it would fall under "a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment", but since this was not my job description and some of the work I did in my spare time at home, would there be any difference, or is this a lost cause?


Asked on 9/08/10, 8:33 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

No, 'lost cause" (in my opinion) to use your phrasing.

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Answered on 9/13/10, 8:39 am


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