solution

Flag Case Study: The Music Teacher Vs the Private Secondary School ‘Sam’ is a Music teacher employed to provide one-to-one instruction to students learning to play the drums (‘private instrumental music’), at two secondary colleges in the South East region of Metropolitan Melbourne. One school is a Public secondary college, whilst the other is privately run (ELC: kindergarten – yr. 12). Both schools have employed Sam using contracts which stipulate the terms and conditions of his employment and which are renewed on an annual basis. He has taught at both schools for several years. At the beginning of 2020, contracts were again issued and agreed upon, generally replicating previous contracts. However, the advent of the Corona-Virus created issues. Both schools discontinued face-to-face classes and all instruction was ordered to be delivered on-line. However, the situation was not to prove so easily resolved at the private school. The item of contention was the facilitation of ensemble work which requires students to meet in groups and practice their drumming skills together, an activity well supported by parents. The move to on-line learning began and Sam was initially notified that ensembles were not going to be run and therefore he should not expect to be paid for them, thus amending his contract. Furthermore, as payment was usually made in the middle of the month, the two weeks already paid included payment for ensembles that had not been run, and they stated that money would need to be repaid and deducted out of the following pay. It should be noted that ensemble work in the public school was continued as usual without any issues. Sam replied suggesting that the ensembles could be run and without issue but did not get a reply for two months. Meanwhile money was taken from his next pay and he was then paid at a reduced rate reflecting the non-payment for the ensembles. Sam was clearly not happy with the new arrangement, particularly as he considered it poor form to have altered his contract without discussing it first with him and examining alternative strategies for running the ensembles. Sam went to the head of the performing arts and broached the issue with her. However, she was new to the role as of this year and had no suggestions as to how he should respond. What should Sam do?

questions : Make suggestions for initiating discussions between the parties while Making recommendations for steps that might be taken in the event of failure to agree and Outline steps that may then be taken to resolve the issue