I'm doing a new website for a business and it's going to involve some original graphics: a large drawing that will get used for various background elements, and two medium-sized looping Flash or GIF animations that will be used on a splash screen and a product page, respectively. I've already completed a lot of the coding backend, but now that I'm up to the graphics, I'm trying to work out what terms I should set with the client.
They are paying me at an hourly rate, as an employee, and I was wondering if I should charge extra for the rights to the images I create, but I don't know if being an employee makes the rights company property (again, NZ, not US.).
I've had a look at similar questions on here, and formed some consensus of good general practice, but my situation differs by one critical point: I am actually working for the client in question as an employee, rather than contracting as a designer (I interviewed for a workshop/manufacturing position, but when they saw some web work on my CV they took me on to build them a new website instead, as they were in dire need of an update.)
The hourly rate they're giving me is slightly more than my current qualifications/experience (i.e: basically zilch) would otherwise justify, so I don't want to stiff them too much by charging heaps - but, as others have said in the questions I've found, I don't want to undercut other people in the industry either. I also don't know what will happen RE: copyright.
If it helps: I'm living/working in New Zealand, so some of the relevant legalities may differ from the US-based terms discussed in the other posts.