Unpaid honorarium for MD « MusicianWages.com Forums

MusicianWages.com Forums » General Musician Topics

Latest reply from Joe Stone

(4 posts) (4 people)

Unpaid honorarium for MD

Posted 1 year ago by Andree-Ann

#

Andree-Ann said 1 year ago

Hey guys,

I have been hired as a Musical Director for this musical back in April. At the initial interview, I was promised an honorarium of 50$ for every show (17 of them) plus a bonus of 500$. The company is a profit share, but this honorarium was guaranteed, regardless of profit.

We had the last show tonight (thank god) and I was told taht honorariums will not be distributed as a result of low sales and no profit.

I am incredibly insulted by all of this and am asking you this questions: what can I do? Since I didn't sign any written paper and it was basically an oral agreement, do I have any resource to get this money I was promised?

I live in Ontario - if that helps - but don't understand anything related to Employment standards and whatnot.

If it has happened to any of you, or if you know what I should do or say, please let me know!

Andree-Ann
http://www.myspace.com/andreeanndeschenes
#

David J. Hahn said 1 year ago

Man, what a drag. I'm not sure if there is anything you can do other than not work for them again. You'll definitely find in the long run that companies like that burn all of their bridges and have severe trouble attracting good talent. That's probably not much consolation. Sorry it happened!

Join my songwriting newsletter at Songwriter.fm
#

Andree-Ann said 1 year ago

Ok so just in case anybody wondered how that story ended...

Basically in the end I was blamed for not doing my job and having a crappy attitude. Honestly, I played at the top of my game everynight, rehearsed and warmed-up the cast and wasn't mean to anybody in anyway - I feel that they were just trying to find a reason not to give my guaranteed honorarium. I couldn't even get an appeal through the MInistry of Labor of Canada as the people running the "company" I was hired by kept changing the clauses of our verbal agreement.

They ended sending me an incredibly insulting letter stating that I am a disadvantage to the music industry and an insult to my own profession with a check of 300$ to ensure that I wouldn't bash on the name of the company to any of my musician peers.

Oh well..at that point, I'm just happy I got 300$ out of it...

My advice to all budding musicians and music director - If a specific amount of money is being put on the table, SIGN A CONTRACT. It might sound obvious but we all encouter those situations in which we think we,ll be fine, you've heard good things about the people hiring you or they seem trustable enough. Well, trust me, apparently you can still get yourself in trouble with seemingly trustable people!

That being said, I am not trying to discourage anybody here, just be careful

Andree-Ann
http://www.myspace.com/andreeanndeschenes
#

Joe Stone said 1 year ago

How sad.

Did you ever get any feedback from anyone you worked with in this? It would probably be nice to hear some opposing viewpoints.
#

rock said 1 year ago

They ended sending me an incredibly insulting letter stating that I am a disadvantage to the music industry and an insult to my own profession with a check of 300$ to ensure that I wouldn't bash on the name of the company to any of my musician peers.

------------------
Breast Enlargement Cream
Breast Enlargement Pills