Independent Contractor Agreement (Teachers)

Please read this carefully. Section 8.2 says you accept the risks of your work. Section 11 requires you to cover Stage Pass's losses from claims about your conduct, even if Stage Pass is also said to be negligent. Section 12 protects the families Stage Pass introduces to you: you won't solicit them or teach them privately while you're with Stage Pass and for 12 months after, unless a placement fee is paid for a written release. Section 16 requires disputes to be resolved by individual arbitration rather than in court, and waives class and collective actions.

This Independent Contractor Agreement (the "Agreement") is between Alex Bodnar, an individual doing business as Stage Pass Lessons, Sandy Springs, Georgia ("Stage Pass", "we", "us") and the individual who signs it electronically (the "Teacher", "you"). It takes effect when you sign (the "Effective Date").

1. Definitions

"Family": a parent or legal guardian who enrolls a Student through Stage Pass, or an adult Student who enrolls themselves, together with everyone in that household and each Student's other parents and legal guardians, wherever they live. "Student": the person taking lessons.
"Minor": anyone under 18 whom you meet through Stage Pass, including a Student's siblings and other children in a Student's home.
"Introduced Family": a Family that Stage Pass introduces, refers, offers or assigns to you in any way, including as a substitute or as a match offer you declined, and any Family whose information you receive from Stage Pass.
"Material Contact": contact between you and a Family (a) whom you taught, met or otherwise dealt with on Stage Pass's behalf, including as a substitute; (b) about whom you obtained Family Information or other confidential information through Stage Pass; or (c) whose Lessons resulted in pay to you.
"Covered Family": an Introduced Family with whom you had Material Contact during the 24 months before this Agreement ends (or, while this Agreement is in effect, during the 24 months before the conduct in question), other than a Family released under Section 12.6.
"Restricted Period": while this Agreement is in effect and for 12 months after it ends.
"Own Student": a student you taught privately before Stage Pass introduced them to you, or who came to you entirely on your own, and whom you list when you sign (Schedule A) or later report to Stage Pass in writing before they take a Lesson through Stage Pass. A student is never an Own Student if you first received their or their Family's information from Stage Pass. Stage Pass may ask for reasonable proof (for example, a past invoice or message) that a listed student is an Own Student.
"Lesson": a private lesson in a Student's home ("in-home"), at your studio ("studio"), or online.
"Pay Sheet": Stage Pass's written teacher rates and bonuses, as in effect from time to time; the version in effect when you sign is part of your signed packet. "Code of Conduct": the Stage Pass Teacher Code of Conduct, as in effect from time to time. Both are part of this Agreement.
"Platform": Stage Pass's website, Teacher Hub, messaging, scheduling and billing tools.

2. Independent Contractor Relationship

2.1 You are an independent contractor, not an employee, partner, joint venturer or agent of Stage Pass. Stage Pass does not withhold taxes, and does not provide workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, health insurance, retirement or any other benefit.

2.2 You decide your teaching methods, repertoire, materials, availability, schedule, home base, travel radius and lesson settings, and you may decline any Student or match we offer. You provide your own instrument, equipment, transportation, phone and internet service, and pay your own business expenses.

2.3 You may teach your own students, perform, and work for anyone else, including other lesson companies. There is no general non-compete: nothing in this Agreement limits where you teach or who you teach for, except the limits in Section 12, which apply only to Families Stage Pass introduces to you. Stage Pass does not promise you any minimum number of Students or Lessons.

2.4 You may not make promises or sign anything on Stage Pass's behalf. The Code of Conduct's safety rules protect children; they do not control how you teach.

2.5 If any court or agency ever decides that you were an employee of Stage Pass for any purpose, you agree that you are still not eligible for any benefit plan Stage Pass may have, and that your pay under this Agreement already includes everything you are owed for your services, to the fullest extent the law allows.

2.6 You are responsible for your own health and accident coverage. You understand that Stage Pass carries no workers' compensation insurance for you.

3. Stage Pass's Role

Stage Pass finds Families, offers you matches within your travel radius, makes introductions, provides the Platform, sets and collects tuition, handles payment conversations, and pays you. Stage Pass does not supervise or attend Lessons. It may decline, pause or end any match at any time. You will not sell lessons or accept any payment, gift of money, or tip from an Introduced Family except through Stage Pass.

4. Lessons and Records

4.1 Teach the Lessons you accept, on time. If you must cancel, tell the Family and Stage Pass through the Platform as early as possible, and at least 24 hours ahead except in a genuine emergency.

4.2 Mark each Lesson as taught or as a no-show promptly and truthfully. Before marking a no-show, wait 15 minutes for an in-home or studio Lesson and 10 minutes for an online Lesson. Each Lesson includes a short written practice note to the Family through the Platform, which is part of what the Family pays for; its content and format are up to you.

4.3 Never send anyone in your place. Substitutes must be teachers onboarded by Stage Pass and are arranged through Stage Pass. Give as much notice as you can before a tour or other long absence.

5. Compensation

5.1 Per-Lesson pay, weekly. For each Lesson taught, Stage Pass pays you the Pay Sheet rate for that setting and length. Travel is not paid separately except as the Pay Sheet states. Lessons taught Thursday through Wednesday are paid by direct deposit the following Friday.

5.2 Late cancellations, no-shows, switches and first Lessons.

If you cannot start, or must stop, a Lesson with a Minor because no Responsible Adult is present as the Code of Conduct requires, the Lesson is treated as a no-show (or, if it had started, as a late cancellation) and you are paid the full rate. You will never lose pay for following the child-safety rules.
If a Family cancels less than 24 hours ahead, or the Student isn't there after the wait in Section 4.2, you are paid the full rate for that Lesson. This is still true if the Family later uses its "life happens" pass to turn that late cancellation into a make-up; the make-up, when you teach it, is paid as a separate Lesson.
If a Lesson is switched to online (for example, on a sick day or in bad weather), it is paid at the Pay Sheet's online rate for that length.
Every first Lesson with a new Family is paid at the full rate, even if the Family doesn't continue or uses the First Lesson Guarantee.
Lessons you cancel, and Lessons a Family cancels with 24 hours' notice or more, are not paid.

5.3 Bonuses and extras. Demo-lesson pay, retention bonuses, rate tiers, drive pay, showcase stipends, referral bonuses and the Own Student share are earned and paid only when the Pay Sheet's conditions are met, and only for periods in which you are not in material breach of Section 6, 7 or 12.

5.4 Rate lock. Stage Pass will not lower the per-Lesson rates on the Pay Sheet for 24 months after the Effective Date. It may raise rates or add bonuses at any time. Any other change to the Pay Sheet needs at least 30 days' written notice and applies only to Lessons after the change.

5.5 Corrections and set-off. After written notice, Stage Pass may correct payment errors, including by deducting overpayments from later payments. Report any suspected payment error within 30 days of the payment. To the extent the law allows, Stage Pass may also deduct from amounts it owes you any placement fee or other amount you owe Stage Pass under this Agreement, after written notice describing the amount; if you dispute it in writing within 10 days, Stage Pass may hold back no more than the disputed amount until the dispute is resolved under Section 16. Lessons recorded falsely are not paid and are a material breach.

5.6 Taxes. You will give Stage Pass a completed IRS Form W-9 before your first payment, and Stage Pass will issue a Form 1099 as the law requires. You alone are responsible for your income and self-employment taxes and any business license you need.

6. Your Statements, Disclosures and Screening

6.1 Statements. You confirm that each of the following is true on the day you sign and every day you teach through Stage Pass:

(a) You have never been convicted of, and have no pending charge for, any of the following in any jurisdiction: (i) any offense involving violence or the threat of violence, a weapon, or stalking; (ii) any sexual offense, including any offense involving pornography or indecent exposure; (iii) any offense involving a minor; (iv) child abuse, neglect, or cruelty to children; or (v) burglary, theft, robbery or any other offense involving entering a home or taking property. "Convicted" includes a plea of guilty or no contest (nolo contendere), a finding of guilt, and a sentence under any first-offender, conditional-discharge, deferred-adjudication or diversion law or program, even if the record was later discharged, sealed or restricted, except to the extent a law that applies to you prohibits Stage Pass from asking about that record. If you are not sure whether something must be disclosed, disclose it in confidence to Stage Pass's owner before you sign.

(b) You are not, and have never been, required to register on any sex-offender registry.

(c) No court order, bond or probation condition, licensing action or child-protective agency finding limits your contact with or work with children, and no agency has substantiated child abuse or neglect against you.

(d) You have never been dismissed from, or asked to leave, any job or volunteer role involving children because of concerns about your conduct with a minor, and you have never resigned from one while such concerns were being investigated.

(e) Everything in your application, audition, references and onboarding is true and complete.

(f) You are at least 18 years old.

6.2 Duty to tell us. You will tell Stage Pass in writing within 24 hours if any of the following happens: you are arrested, charged, cited or convicted for an offense described in 6.1(a); anything in 6.1(b), (c) or (d) becomes true; or you learn that law enforcement or a child-protective agency is investigating you over a matter involving a minor. Stage Pass may pause all your Lessons, unpaid, while it reviews the matter, and may end this Agreement.

6.3 Authorization. You authorize Stage Pass, at any time, to search public sex-offender registries (including nsopw.gov), court and corrections records and other public records about you, and to contact your references. Stage Pass may verify anything in this Section but is not required to. Any search or verification is done for Stage Pass's own purposes, creates no duty to you, and does not reduce your responsibility for the truth of your statements. If Stage Pass ever obtains a report from a consumer reporting agency, it will first give you any separate disclosure and obtain any separate authorization the law requires.

6.4 Misstatements. A false or incomplete statement under this Section, or a failure to tell us under 6.2, is a material breach. Stage Pass may end this Agreement immediately, and you will indemnify Stage Pass under Section 11 for the resulting loss. Stage Pass may share the reason with affected Families and with authorities when it believes in good faith that this is needed to protect a child or is required by law. You release the Stage Pass Parties from any claim arising out of a report Stage Pass makes in good faith to law enforcement, DFCS or another agency, or a statement it makes in good faith to an affected Family, about your conduct or your compliance with this Agreement.

7. Code of Conduct

You will follow the Code of Conduct at every Lesson and every Stage Pass event (such as a showcase). A breach of the Code is a breach of this Agreement. Stage Pass may update the Code for child safety by written notice; teaching any Lesson after the notice means you accept the update. The core rule: never start or continue an in-home Lesson with a Minor unless a Responsible Adult (as the Code defines it) is in the home.

8. Your Responsibility and Your Risks

8.1 You alone are responsible for your acts and omissions in Lessons, in Students' homes, at your studio, online and while traveling, and for your vehicle, equipment, studio and compliance with the law. The Code sets minimum standards; it does not make Stage Pass responsible for whether you follow it.

8.2 YOUR RISKS. YOU UNDERSTAND THAT TRAVELING TO AND TEACHING IN FAMILIES' HOMES, AT YOUR STUDIO AND ONLINE INVOLVES RISKS, INCLUDING TRAFFIC, PETS, THE CONDITION OF HOMES, AND THE CONDUCT OF STUDENTS, FAMILIES AND OTHERS. YOU VOLUNTARILY ACCEPT THOSE RISKS AND, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, RELEASE THE STAGE PASS PARTIES FROM CLAIMS FOR INJURY TO YOU OR LOSS OF OR DAMAGE TO YOUR PROPERTY ARISING FROM THEM, INCLUDING CLAIMS BASED ON THE NEGLIGENCE OF A STAGE PASS PARTY. This does not cover a Stage Pass Party's gross negligence or willful misconduct, your right to be paid under this Agreement, or any claim the law does not allow to be released.

8.3 You will tell Stage Pass within 24 hours about any injury, accident, property damage, complaint, or threatened or actual claim connected with your work through Stage Pass, preserve related messages and records, and cooperate with Stage Pass and its insurers in investigating and defending any claim, during and after this Agreement.

9. Insurance

9.1 Required for in-home and studio Lessons. Before your first in-home or studio Lesson, and for as long as you teach any in-home or studio Lesson through Stage Pass, you must carry general liability insurance covering your teaching, with limits of at least $1,000,000 per occurrence and $2,000,000 in total. Your policy must name Stage Pass as an additional insured whenever your insurer offers that (most do, often at no or nominal cost), must be primary to any insurance Stage Pass carries for claims arising from your Lessons, and should include sexual abuse and molestation coverage and professional liability coverage where your insurer offers them. Music-teacher liability policies are widely available and inexpensive.

9.2 You will send Stage Pass a certificate of insurance before your first in-home or studio Lesson and whenever the policy renews, and tell Stage Pass within 2 days if the policy is cancelled or lapses. Without current proof on file you may teach online only.

9.3 You will also carry the auto insurance Georgia law requires. Stage Pass provides no insurance for you, your vehicle, your equipment or your studio; any insurance Stage Pass carries protects Stage Pass only.

10. Confidentiality

10.1 "Family Information" means anything you learn about a Family or Student, including names, addresses, contact details, schedules, ages, entry codes, and health and learning information. Use it only to teach that Student through Stage Pass. Never share, sell or post it, and never add it to your own contact or marketing lists. Keep it secure, and delete or return it when Stage Pass asks or when this Agreement ends. Stage Pass's family lists, leads, pricing and business methods are also confidential.

10.2 Nothing in this Agreement stops you from discussing your own pay or working conditions, or from reporting suspected abuse or illegal conduct to any authority. Under the federal Defend Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. § 1833(b)), you are not liable for disclosing a trade secret in confidence to a government official or a lawyer solely to report or investigate a suspected violation of law, or in a sealed court filing.

11. Indemnification

11.1 You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Stage Pass and its owner, members, managers, staff, contractors other than you, successors and assigns (the "Stage Pass Parties") from and against all claims, demands, losses, damages, settlements, penalties, costs and reasonable attorney's fees arising out of or relating to: (a) your acts or omissions; (b) your breach of this Agreement or the Code of Conduct; (c) any false statement or non-disclosure under Section 6; (d) your violation of any law; or (e) your taxes.

11.2 THIS INDEMNITY APPLIES EVEN IF THE CLAIM ALLEGES, OR IT IS FOUND, THAT A STAGE PASS PARTY WAS ALSO NEGLIGENT, INCLUDING CLAIMS THAT A STAGE PASS PARTY NEGLIGENTLY SCREENED, SELECTED, MATCHED, SUPERVISED OR RETAINED YOU, OR DID NOT OBTAIN A CRIMINAL BACKGROUND CHECK ON YOU. It does not apply to the extent a claim is caused by the gross negligence or willful misconduct of a Stage Pass Party.

11.3 You may not settle any claim in a way that binds, or admits fault by, a Stage Pass Party without its written consent. A Stage Pass Party may choose its own lawyer and control its own defense, and you remain responsible under this Section if it does.

12. Protecting Introduced Families

12.1 Why this exists. Stage Pass spends real money and time finding, screening and matching every Family, and its relationships with Families are its business. You agree that Stage Pass has legitimate business interests in its substantial relationships with specific existing and prospective Families, in the goodwill of those relationships, and in its confidential Family Information.

12.2 Never restricted: teaching anyone who is not a Covered Family, anywhere, for anyone; your Own Students; and all your other work.

12.3 No soliciting. During the Restricted Period, you will not, directly or through anyone else (including another business, a friend, a relative or an online platform), solicit or try to solicit any Covered Family to take music lessons from you, or from anyone you work with, outside Stage Pass. Soliciting includes offering a lower price, suggesting that the Family pay you directly, giving your private rates or private contact details for that purpose, and encouraging the Family to leave Stage Pass.

12.4 No private lessons. During the Restricted Period, you will not give music lessons outside Stage Pass, yourself or through any other business or platform, to any member of a Covered Family, even if the Family contacts you first, unless the Family has been released under Section 12.6. This subsection is a separate promise from Section 12.3: if it is ever found unenforceable in whole or in part, Section 12.3 and the rest of this Section still apply in full.

12.5 If a Family asks. If a Covered Family asks to take lessons with you outside Stage Pass, don't quote a price or make plans with them. Tell Stage Pass within 3 days and point the Family to the release in Section 12.6.

12.6 The release (buyout). A Covered Family may take lessons with you outside Stage Pass at any time once Stage Pass has received the placement fee in Section 12.7, paid by the Family, by you, or by both together. Stage Pass will confirm the release in writing within 3 business days, and Sections 12.3 and 12.4 then stop applying to that Family. Stage Pass also releases a Family automatically, with no fee, (a) once that Family has had no Stage Pass lessons with any teacher for 12 months, or (b) if Stage Pass ends that Family's enrollment for a reason other than the Family's breach or nonpayment. An automatic release does not excuse a breach that happened before it.

12.7 Placement fee. The placement fee is three months of tuition for each person who takes lessons from you outside Stage Pass, figured at Stage Pass's published monthly membership rate for that person's most recent Stage Pass lesson setting and length (or, for someone who never had Stage Pass lessons, the Family's most recent setting and length), in effect on the date of the Family's last Stage Pass lesson. For example, $960 per person for weekly 45-minute in-home lessons at the rates in effect on the Effective Date. Stage Pass collects the placement fee only once for the same Family and Teacher, whether it is paid by you, by the Family or by both; any amount the Family pays is credited against what you owe, and the reverse.

12.8 If this Section is broken.

(a) Placement fee. If any member of a Covered Family takes lessons from you outside Stage Pass during the Restricted Period without a release under Section 12.6, whether or not you solicited them, you will pay Stage Pass the placement fee for that Family within 30 days after Stage Pass's written demand, less anything the Family has already paid. When a Family leaves to take lessons privately, Stage Pass loses the net revenue it would probably have earned over the rest of that Family's enrollment and what it spent finding, screening and matching the Family, and that loss is difficult to calculate precisely. You and Stage Pass agree that the placement fee is a reasonable pre-estimate of that loss and is not a penalty. It is Stage Pass's only claim for money damages for losing that Family's lessons, apart from subsection (d).

(b) Soliciting without a lost Family. If you breach Section 12.3 but no member of the Family takes lessons from you outside Stage Pass, the placement fee does not apply; Stage Pass may recover its actual damages and use the other remedies in this Section.

(c) Bonuses. No retention or other bonus is earned for any Student in a Family involved in the breach, and no bonus is earned for any period in which you were in breach of this Section (Section 5.3).

(d) Costs. If Stage Pass prevails, you will pay its reasonable attorney's fees and costs of enforcing this Section.

(e) Ending the Agreement. Stage Pass may end this Agreement immediately under Section 14.2.

(f) Court orders. You agree that a breach or threatened breach of Section 10 or this Section would cause Stage Pass harm that money alone could not fully repair, including the loss of other Families. Stage Pass may ask a court to stop or prevent a breach, as Section 16.5 allows. The placement fee compensates for a Family already lost; it does not mean money is an adequate remedy for other or future breaches.

12.9 Confirming compliance. During the Restricted Period, you will confirm in writing within 7 days of Stage Pass's request whether you have given lessons outside Stage Pass to any member of a Covered Family, and identify any you have. A false or incomplete answer is a breach of this Section.

12.10 Own Students. You may move Own Students onto Stage Pass scheduling and billing and keep the share of their tuition stated on the Pay Sheet. They remain your students: this Section never applies to them, and you may move them off Stage Pass at any time.

12.11 Reasonableness. You agree that the restrictions in this Section protect the legitimate business interests described in Section 12.1; are reasonable in time, scope and subject matter; are given in exchange for the introductions, Family Information and pay you receive under this Agreement; and leave you free to earn a living teaching anyone else. You also agree that your teaching requires talent and skill in a recognized field of artistic and creative endeavor. If a court or arbitrator finds any part of this Section too broad to enforce as written, it should modify that part only as much as necessary, as the Georgia Restrictive Covenants Act (O.C.G.A. § 13-8-50 et seq.) allows, and enforce the rest. If a court decides that Section 12.4 must be limited to a geographic area, that area is the counties in which Stage Pass offered in-home or studio lessons during the 2 years before this Agreement ended, plus online lessons to anyone living in those counties.

13. Recording, Photos and Media

13.1 Don't photograph or record any Minor, except for teaching recordings made with a parent's or guardian's prior written consent (an email or Platform message is enough). A teaching recording is used only for that Student's instruction and shared only with that Family. It is never posted, and it is deleted when no longer needed, and in all cases when this Agreement ends. Adult Students may be recorded only with their consent, under the same rules.

13.2 Don't use any Student's or Family's name, image, voice or performance in your own marketing without that Family's separate written consent.

13.3 Stage Pass may use your name, approved photo, bio and public performance links to promote you and Stage Pass while this Agreement is in effect, and will remove them from its website within 30 days after it ends.

14. Term and Termination

14.1 Either party may end this Agreement for any reason with 14 days' written notice. During that period you will teach your scheduled Lessons, unless both parties agree otherwise, and help hand your Students off.

14.2 Stage Pass may suspend or end this Agreement immediately, without notice, for any of these reasons: a safety concern or credible complaint about your conduct with a Minor; a breach of Section 6, 7, 9, 10, 12 or 13; false Lesson records; or illegal conduct connected with your work.

14.3 When this Agreement ends, Stage Pass pays you on the next regular Friday for Lessons taught, and late-cancellation or no-show pay earned, through the end date. Bonuses whose Pay Sheet conditions have not been met are not owed. Sections 2.5, 5.5, 5.6, 6.4, 8, 9 (for claims arising from Lessons you taught), 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16 and 17 survive the end of this Agreement.

15. Limitation of Liability; Time to Bring Claims

15.1 To the fullest extent the law allows, the Stage Pass Parties are not liable to you for indirect, incidental, consequential, special or punitive damages, lost profits or lost students. The Stage Pass Parties' total combined liability to you for all claims arising out of or relating to this Agreement or your work through Stage Pass, whether in contract, tort or otherwise, is limited to the amounts payable to you for Lessons taught in the 3 months before the claim arose, plus any amounts actually owed to you for Lessons taught and bonuses already earned. This Section does not limit liability for gross negligence or willful misconduct, or any liability the law does not allow to be limited.

15.2 To the fullest extent the law allows, any claim you have against a Stage Pass Party arising out of or relating to this Agreement or your work through Stage Pass must be brought within one year after it arises, or it is permanently barred. This one-year limit does not apply to a claim for unpaid wages, any other claim under a statute that does not allow a shorter period, or a charge filed with a government agency.

16. Disputes: Individual Arbitration

16.1 Talk first. Before starting any proceeding, the party with a claim will send the other a written description of it, and both will try in good faith to resolve it for 30 days.

16.2 Arbitration. Any dispute between you and a Stage Pass Party arising from or relating to this Agreement, your work through Stage Pass, your classification as a contractor, or your pay will be resolved by final and binding arbitration before a single arbitrator, administered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under the rules it applies to the dispute, in Fulton County, Georgia (or by video, if both agree). The arbitrator decides questions about whether a dispute must be arbitrated, except that a court decides whether Section 16.3 is enforceable and whether Section 16.6 applies. Stage Pass will pay all AAA filing, administrative and arbitrator fees beyond what you would have paid to file the same claim in court. This Agreement involves interstate commerce, including interstate payment networks, internet services and online lessons, and the Federal Arbitration Act governs this Section. Both you and Stage Pass initial this Section.

16.3 Individual claims only. You and Stage Pass each waive the right to bring or join any class, collective or representative action, in arbitration or in court, and the arbitrator may award relief only to you or Stage Pass individually (the "Class Waiver"). A court, not the arbitrator, decides whether the Class Waiver is enforceable. If the Class Waiver is found unenforceable for a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) will be decided in court, after any individual arbitration is finished, and the rest of this Section still applies.

16.4 No jury. Because disputes under this Section are decided by an arbitrator, you and Stage Pass each give up the right to a jury for them. To the extent the law allows, you and Stage Pass also waive a jury trial for any claim that goes to court. If that court jury waiver is not enforceable, that does not affect the Class Waiver or any other part of this Section.

16.5 Exceptions. Either party may bring an individual claim in a Georgia magistrate court that has jurisdiction and venue (for example, the magistrate court of the county where the other party lives), and the claim stays in that court unless it is transferred, removed or appealed. Either party may also ask any court with jurisdiction for a temporary restraining order or injunction to stop or prevent a breach of Section 10, 12 or 13 while arbitration proceeds. Nothing in this Section stops you from filing a charge or complaint with, or taking part in an investigation by, a government agency.

16.6 Sexual harassment and assault claims. If a claim relates to a sexual harassment or sexual assault dispute, the person making it may choose to bring the case in court instead of arbitration, as federal law (9 U.S.C. §§ 401–402) allows. A court decides whether that law applies. Otherwise, this Section applies.

16.7 Law and court. Georgia law governs this Agreement, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules, and the Federal Arbitration Act governs Section 16. Any matter that is allowed to go to court will be heard in the Superior Court, State Court or Magistrate Court of Fulton County, Georgia, or the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, except where the law requires it to be filed in another county or court. Both parties consent to the jurisdiction of those courts.

17. General

17.1 Notices. Notices go by email to the address on file for you, by text message to your mobile number, or through the Platform, and to [email protected] for Stage Pass. They take effect when sent unless the email bounces. Stage Pass will give you its mailing address on request; a notice of a legal claim against Stage Pass must also be mailed there.

17.2 Entire agreement. This Agreement, the Pay Sheet, the Code of Conduct and Schedule A are the entire agreement between us and replace all earlier statements, including website and recruiting materials. On child safety the Code of Conduct controls; on pay amounts the Pay Sheet controls. Changes need both parties' written (including electronic) signatures, except as Sections 5.4 and 7 allow.

17.3 Severability; no waiver. If any provision is unenforceable, it is limited or removed only as far as necessary, and the rest stays in effect. Not enforcing a right is not a waiver of it.

17.4 Assignment. You may not assign or subcontract this Agreement. Stage Pass may assign this Agreement to any entity Alex Bodnar controls (including a future Stage Pass Lessons LLC) or to a buyer or successor of the business, and will tell you when it does; the assignee may enforce this Agreement, including Section 12, as if it were Stage Pass.

17.5 Your own advice. You have had the opportunity to review this Agreement, and to have a lawyer of your choice review it, before signing. Headings are for convenience only. "Including" means "including without limitation".

17.6 Electronic signature and records. You sign by checking the boxes, typing your full legal name and initials, and clicking "Sign". That signature has the same effect as a handwritten one under the Georgia Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (O.C.G.A. § 10-12-1 et seq.) and the federal E-SIGN Act, and you agree to receive this Agreement and all notices electronically. Stage Pass records the date and time, your IP address, your device and browser, and the exact version signed (including the Pay Sheet), lets you save or print a copy when you sign, and keeps a copy you can view and print in your Teacher Hub, including after this Agreement ends. You can also ask for a copy by email at any time. Stage Pass's signature, by Alex Bodnar, Owner, and its initials on Sections 8.2, 11.2 and 16, are applied electronically when you sign.

17.7 No third-party beneficiaries. This Agreement, including the Code of Conduct, is for the benefit of Stage Pass and you only. No Family, Student or other person is a third-party beneficiary of it or may enforce it, except the Stage Pass Parties under Sections 6.4, 8.2, 11, 15 and 16.

Schedule A: Own Students

Any Own Students you list when you sign are recorded with your signature. You may add an Own Student later by telling Stage Pass in writing before that student takes a Lesson through Stage Pass.