Chapter 9 - WAS CLARA AN EMPLOYEE?
The employment lawyer refused to give Clara an emotionally satisfying answer.
“Were you an employee?”
“I worked.”
“That’s not the only question.”
They reviewed:
ownership,
control,
hours,
expectation of compensation,
tax treatment,
marital relationship,
company benefit,
and records.
Clara had never been formally hired.
No W-2.
No payroll.
No employment agreement.
She also had no ownership interest.
Some work looked like informal spousal assistance.
Some looked like regular administrative labor the company would otherwise have paid someone to perform.
The lawyer said:
“This is fact-specific.”
Clara hated that phrase.
Then appreciated it.
The point was not to invent a giant wage-theft lawsuit to punish Evelyn.
The point was to stop pretending the work had no economic value.
The company hired an outside accounting consultant to reconstruct reasonable replacement cost.
Estimate:
between $31,000 and $46,000 per year depending on duties and hours.
For four years.
Not automatically money owed dollar-for-dollar.
But enough to destroy the word:
nothing.
The accounting consultant did not calculate childcare or housework into one giant invoice.
Clara specifically asked them not to.
Why?
Because she did not want the solution to become:
Every meal cooked equals $X.
Every school pickup equals $Y.
That would reproduce Evelyn’s mistake in reverse.
The consultant focused only on identifiable business tasks that would ordinarily require paid labor.
Clearer.
Narrower.
More defensible.
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Clara wanted recognition.
Not a retroactive bill for being a wife and mother.
