Terms of engagement – staff etc – English Classical Players

Standard Terms of Engagement

Any person (hereinafter referred to as the sub-contractor) engaged by ENGLISH CLASSICAL PLAYERS LTD (hereinafter called the Company) is engaged according to the terms and conditions described below:

Services:
1. That the sub-contractor provides services as agreed between the parties.
Fees & payment:
1. The sub-contractor is engaged by the Company as an independent contractor who is solely and exclusively liable for complying with all applicable local and international laws. Nothing in these terms of engagement should be construed to create a partnership, joint venture, or employer-employee relationship.
2. Fees paid to the sub-contractor include all holiday pay allowances and traditional ancillary fees including (but not limited to) porterage, doubling fees, travel etc. That is, the sub-contractor has no right to claim for further payment in respect of any of the aforementioned or for payments towards national insurance, pension contribution, overtime (other than as an agreed additional payment), or any other matter that might be perceived as a cause for further payment.
3. Fees may vary for different engagements. The amount payable for each specific project will be notified at the time of engagement. Such notification may be made verbally or via a third party such as a diary service or answering machine.
4. The sub-contractor must specify a Bank Account to which all payments relating to the engagement will be credited.
5. The sub-contractor must provide any necessary VAT invoice or other necessary documentation relating to entitlement to or amount of payment within seven days of the completion of the engagement.
6. Payment of all fees will normally be made within 30 days of the completion of the engagement.
Force majeure:
1. The obligations of the parties shall be suspended and unenforceable for so long as any of the circumstances specified as Force Majeure make it impossible or impractical.
2. Force Majeure shall be deemed as an act or event beyond the reasonable control of the parties, against which it is impossible or commercially unfeasible to insure or to claim compensation from a third party for, caused by:
  1. lightning, flood, storm, earthquake or any other unpredictable freak of nature
  2. fire, explosion, accident, epidemic
  3. strike, lockout or other industrial dispute on the part of persons employed by any person who is not a party to this agreement
  4. riot, war or acts of terrorism
  5. any act of government or other competent authority
  6. any other circumstance beyond the reasonable control of the parties and which are not caused by either party.
Indemnities:
1. The Company will make all reasonable endeavours in order to provide a safe working environment.
2. The Company accepts no responsibility for personal injury to the sub-contractor or loss of, or damage to property belonging to the sub-contractor.
3. The sub-contractor indemnifies the Company against any costs or claims arising from his or her actions where such actions are in any way unlawful or fail to respect any obligation (explicit or otherwise) arising through these terms of engagement.
Jurisdiction:
1. These terms of engagement are confidential, non-precedential and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom.
2. In case of any dispute which the parties are unable to resolve, the parties shall first seek to engage in arbitration or mediation through a third party. In the case of such process still failing to provide agreement, the matter shall be referred to the jurisdiction of the UK courts.
3. If any provision of these terms of engagement is nullified, prohibited by law or judged by a court to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, the provision shall, to the extent required, be severed from this Agreement and rendered ineffective as far as possible without modifying the remaining provisions of this Agreement, and shall not in any way affect any other circumstances of or the validity or enforcement of this Agreement.
4. These terms of engagement record the entire agreement of both parties and shall not be added to or amended except by an instrument of writing executed by both parties.
Engagements in Andermatt – additional terms:
1. The sub-contractor agrees not to participate in sports involving risk of personal injury in Andermatt until after the end of all performances and to indemnify the company against any costs arising from failure to adhere to this requirement. For the purpose of this clause, the activities covered are any sport where there is any significant risk of incurring injury including but not limited to climbing, skiing, snowboarding, sledging, tobogganing and ice-skating.

Key points

Some of this is covered in the underlying standard terms and conditions but we suspect that hardly anyone actually reads them. These are the things we think you really need to know relating to accepting this engagement:

Fees
1. The all-inclusive amounts payable will be calculated on the following basis:
  1. Concert fee (including up to 3 hours rehearsal):
    Principal £250 / Sub-principal £235 / Tutti £220
  2. Single session – 60% of concert fee
  3. Travel days – 50% of concert fee
2. This means that for the full project the payments will be:
  Principal £1,750 / Sub-principal £1,645 / Tutti £1,540
3. These fees include audio and video recording for all archive and promotional uses plus a broadcast/webcast fee.
Insurances
1. We can take no responsibility for loss of or damage to instruments except where this arises from our negligence. We therefore strongly recommend that you have a comprehensive insurance policy covering your instrument both within the UK and in Switzerland.
2. We have or will obtain cancellation insurance but cannot guarantee that it will cover every possible circumstance of force majeure listed in the standard terms.
3. We have or will obtain travel insurance covering the tour party but we cannot cover the enhanced risk of injuries from participation in winter sports – if you wish to do so, please arrange to stay on after the festival.
4. We have or will obtain insurance for public liability and damage to instruments arising from negligence.
5. We recommend having your own international public liability cover – which we understand is included with MU membership.
Concert dress
1. Tails / long black
Accommodation, meals and guests
1. The booked accommodation offers the option of single occupancy for all musicians.
2. The 4* Radisson Blu hotel is lovely. There is a 25m pool, fitness centre, spa with sauna, steam room etc. (treatments extra) and we understand all these (+wi-fi access) will be available to you whilst resident there.
3. Breakfast, lunch and dinner will be provided from dinner on the day of arrival in Andermatt to breakfast on the day of departure.
4. Meals will be buffet style with a wide range of options which should suit most diets. We tried one of the buffet meals during the acoustic testing and were very impressed.
5. If you wish to bring a guest to share your room this may be possible (not guaranteed but please do ask) and the only charge would be for meals at CHF 100 / day, payable at the hotel. (Please note, compared to the hotel a la carte and local restaurant prices, this looks like pretty good value).
6. We cannot guarantee to be able to provide concert tickets for any guests.

Standard Terms of Engagement

Any player (hereinafter referred to as the Musician) engaged by ENGLISH CLASSICAL PLAYERS LTD (hereinafter called the Company) is engaged according to the terms and conditions described below:

Services:
1. That the Musician performs as directed within the Company’s orchestra in rehearsals and performances.
2. That the Musician provides such additional services before and after rehearsals or performances such as may be reasonably requested, for example photo shoots and pre or post-performance social events.
3. That the Musician permits the Company to make sound and or video recordings of all sessions involved in any engagement by any means whatsoever. In respect of such recordings that:
  1. The Musician performs in any post-performance patching sessions if requested, provided that the total performance duration does not exceed 3 hours.
  2. The Musician transfers all necessary rights in relation to such recordings to the Company in order that the Company may use them for any purpose whatsoever, provided that any profits arising thereof must be either reinvested within the Company or distributed equally between all performers or otherwise used to support UK-based professional musical enterprises.
  3. In the case of any recording as described above being used for any purpose other than promotional or archive use by the company and /or named artists involved in the performance, the Company will notify the Musician and provide all necessary details to enable collection of any royalties which may fall due to the Musician via third-party agencies.
  4. In the case of the Company transferring copyright in any recording as described above to any third party then the Company will pay an additional fee to the Musician. In case of any dispute the amount of this fee shall be determined by agreement between the Company and the Musicians’ Union.
Fees & payment:
1. The Musician is engaged by the Company as an independent contractor who is solely and exclusively liable for complying with all applicable local and international laws. Nothing in these terms of engagement should be construed to create a partnership, joint venture, or employer-employee relationship.
2. Fees paid to the Musician include all holiday pay allowances and traditional ancillary fees including (but not limited to) porterage, doubling fees, travel etc. That is, the Musician has no right to claim for further payment in respect of any of the aforementioned or for payments towards national insurance, pension contribution, overtime (other than as an agreed additional payment), or any other matter that might be perceived as a cause for further payment.
3. Fees may vary for different engagements.
  1. The fees payable for each specific project will be notified to the Musician at the time of engagement. Such notification may be made verbally or via a third party such as a diary service or answering machine.
  2. The total gross fee payable will be not less than the amount which would be payable for the same services if calculated in accordance with the relevant agreement between the Musicians’ Union and the Association of British Orchestras for orchestras in Category 1.
4. The Musician must specify a UK Bank Account to which all payments relating to the engagement will be credited.
5. The Musician must provide any necessary VAT invoice or other necessary documentation relating to entitlement to or amount of payment within seven days of the completion of the engagement.
6. Payment of all fees will normally be made within 30 days of the completion of the engagement.
Force majeure:
1. The obligations of the Company and the Musician shall be suspended and unenforceable for so long as any of the circumstances specified as Force Majeure make it impossible or impractical.
2. Force Majeure shall be deemed as an act or event beyond the reasonable control of the engager or the musician, against which it is impossible or commercially unfeasible to insure or to claim compensation from a third party for, caused by:
  1. lightning, flood, storm, earthquake or any other unpredictable freak of nature
  2. fire, explosion, accident, epidemic
  3. strike, lockout or other industrial dispute on the part of persons employed by any person who is not a party to this agreement
  4. riot, war or acts of terrorism
  5. any act of government or other competent authority
  6. any other circumstance beyond the reasonable control of the engager or the musician and which are not caused by either the management or the musician
Indemnities:
1. The Company will make all reasonable endeavours in order to provide a safe working environment for the Musician.
2. The Company accepts no responsibility for personal injury to the Musician or loss of, or damage to property belonging to the Musician.
3. The Musician indemnifies the Company against any costs or claims arising from his or her actions where such actions are in any way unlawful or fail to respect any obligation (explicit or otherwise) arising through these terms of engagement.
Jurisdiction:
1. These terms of engagement are confidential, non-precedential and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom.
2. In case of any dispute which the parties are unable to resolve, the parties shall first seek to engage in arbitration or mediation through a third party. In the case of such process still failing to provide agreement, the matter shall be referred to the jurisdiction of the UK courts.
3. If any provision of these terms of engagement is nullified, prohibited by law or judged by a court to be unlawful, void, or unenforceable, the provision shall, to the extent required, be severed from this Agreement and rendered ineffective as far as possible without modifying the remaining provisions of this Agreement, and shall not in any way affect any other circumstances of or the validity or enforcement of this Agreement.
4. These terms of engagement record the entire agreement of both parties and shall not be added to or amended except by an instrument of writing executed by both parties.
Engagements in Andermatt – additional terms:
1. The Musician agrees to provide travel, medical, instrument and public liability insurance for his or herself and to indemnify the Company against any claims arising relating to these.
2. The Musician agrees not to participate in sports involving risk of personal injury in Andermatt until after the end of all performances and to indemnify the company against any costs arising from failure to adhere to this requirement. For the purpose of this clause, the activities covered are any sport where there is any significant risk of incurring injury including but not limited to climbing, skiing, snowboarding, sledging, tobogganing and ice-skating.