I have a studio and small jewelry school and it has come to my
attention recently that I need a liability contract to use with my
students and other business related people. It is a shame in modern
society that trust and good will are not enough. I wondered how
other people handle these issues.
Sadly I don’t always get a chance to read the news letters so I
don’t know whether this has been discussed before. I would
appreciate any incite and suggestions you all may have.
Contact a lawyer. Tell them you want a simple one page contract.
Everyone, and I mean every student, private student, studiomate and
Open Studio person has one signed for the year which if they are
hurt, they get a million for a hang nail. Don’t get any ideas people!
The state of Massachusetts also requires Metalwerx to cover ALL of
our EMPLOYEES Workman’s Comp. That means if a teacher comes in for
four hours and teaches, they are covered. What is the definition of
an employee to the state of Mass? Their definition: "if a hamster
runs across the floor in our building, collects a penny on their back
and their claw is pinched and go to the hospital, they can collect
full WC benefits. Do we pay up the nose for this…yes.
Overhead for running a jewelry school is expensive!
So, get thee to a lawyer, pronto. Then get insurance. No biggie
there. They will want to inspect the premises. Have your fire
inspection ahead of time, tanks corralled, certificates of occupancy
posted and clear exit signs posted.
Good luck.
Oh, and if you run into a problem, contact the “volunteer lawyers
for the arts”.
-k
M E T A L W E R X
School for Jewelry and the Metalarts
50 Guinan St.
Waltham, MA 02451
781 891 3854 www.metalwerx.com
I’m not sure this will help you, but I found it amusing. Concerned
about stone breakage and liability I showed my attorney my price list
and disclaimer stating the reasons for not being responsible for
stone breakage.
Standard stuff I’ve seen a million times, flaws, internal
instability,in general, the nature of nature. He reviewed my price
list and started to chuckle. I say hey, hey, whats up with this. Than
he just smiled and informed me this was not a contract, it’s just the
way I would like for it to be. Get some legal advice,can not hurt.
Regards, Craig.