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Post date: Nov 02, 2016 8:22:29 PM
From: Mike Agranoff [mailto:Mike@MikeAgranoff.com]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2016 4:50 PM
To: 'Chris Riemer' <chrisriemer@verizon.net>; 'Barrett Wilson' <bgwilson53@gmail.com>; 'George Otto' <g_otto@comcast.net>; 'Lori Falco' <lwfalco@optonline.net>; 'Elizabeth Lachowicz' <e.lachowicz@verizon.net>
Cc: 'Mark Schaffer' <markschaffer100@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: Workers' Compensation Policy #WC533S357832035
I have never sent out an actual "contract" that needed to be signed and returned for any Minstrel performers. What I have sent out has been a "Letter of Agreement", which spells out the terms and conditions of our agreement. I have recently added a statement in that Letter of Agreement that the performer is working as an independent contractor, not as an employee. But I have never required a performer to sign and return the document. The reason for this is that as a legally forcing document, a contract is only as effective as one's willingness to go to court to uphold it. And at the dollar levels we are dealing with, that is patently ridiculous. The true enfocement of the agreement stems from the good word of both parties, and the virtual handshake of our agreement. That has served me and the Minstrel well for the entire 39 year tenure of my position as Booking Chairman. It cuts down on my paperwork significantly, and I am loathe to change it.
I would also venture to say that no more than 1 or 2 percent of our performers, including travelling professionals, carry their own WC insurance. So any savings in that area would not be worth the extra effort of keeping track of that.
By the way, I'd also venture to say that very few of the acts or their agents actually read that Letter of Agreement with any degree of thoroughness. What makes me say that is that in the Letter there is a paragraph saying that if they supply a setlist of the songs they've performed, we will send a copy of that setlist to ASCAP which will give them credit for live performance royalties for public performance of their copyrighted music. In the four years since we've been registered with ASCAP I have received a grand total of 12 setlists from performers, including both headline and opening acts out of about 280 acts booked over the time period.
Mike Agranoff
www.MikeAgranoff.com
From: Chris Riemer [mailto:chrisriemer@verizon.net]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2016 3:59 PM
To: Barrett Wilson; 'George Otto'; 'Lori Falco'; 'Elizabeth Lachowicz'
Cc: 'Mike Agranoff'; 'Mark Schaffer'
Subject: FW: Workers' Compensation Policy #WC533S357832035
So we have the answer.
For those who were not at the last meeting, this idea of having such language made part of our standard contracting process could save us some money. Because if we could come up with some way of flagging performers who DID have their own insurance, the Treasurer could leave them out of the Workers' Comp audit report. That would reduce our exposure, perhaps dramatically.
That is, if Mike had something in his contracts that said "Your signature here indicates that you understand you are not covered by The Folk Project in terms of Workers Compensation, and are acknowledging that you carry such a policy yourself." (or words to that effect), it might exclude all Minstrel performers from the audit. I would think Open Stage performers are excluded anyway, since we don't pay them and they've never gone into the audit in the first place.
Asking for (and filing) a Certificate of Insurance might be more trouble than it's worth, though. I think I remember that in our prior conversations, Mike said he'd never been asked for such a document, but someone said Rivka usually was asked to provide same.
Since Lori will be continuing to work this issue in the months ahead, I'd wait to see what she turns up.
Regards,
Chris
From: Kris Matakonis [mailto:krism@howeinsgrp.com]
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2016 3:20 PM
To: treasurer@folkproject.org
Subject: Workers' Compensation Policy #WC533S357832035
Chris,
In response to your letter dated 10/10/16, workers compensation coverage for The Folk Project is required unless each performer carriers their own workers compensation policy and provides The Folk Project with a certificate of insurance proving coverage.
The Folk Project is liable if the performers you hire do not carry their own coverage and are injured while performing on your behalf.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Have a great day,
Kris
Kris Matakonis
krism@howeinsgrp.com
Howe Insurance Group
1000 Herrontown Road
Princeton, NJ 08540
609-924-0095
609-924-9710
www.howeinsurance.com
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