1. Given the following independent contractor agreement: “I agree to provide services to the XYZ Company as an independent contractor. These services include writing software, “trouble shooting” computer network problems, and other tasks that might be ass

1. Given the following independent contractor agreement: “I agree to provide services to the XYZ Company as an independent contractor. These services include writing software, “trouble shooting” computer network problems, and other tasks that might be assigned. I agree to respond to requests for my services in a timely fashion.

I realize that I am free to consult for other companies and to use my own best professional judgment in determining how to provide these services to XYZ Co. I agree that I will be paid at the rate of $35/hr for all time spent performing services for the XYZ Corp.”

What, if anything, is good about this agreement? What, if anything is problematic about this agreement? Should it say other things?

 2. Retaliation claims are ever more common. The urge to “get back at” employees who complain about discriminatory treatment is apparently difficult to resist. What should employers do to lessen the occurrence of retaliation? Provide at least one example of a retaliation claim that has been in either the popular press or scholarly journals within the past 12 months