Part-time employees who worked at Travis Scott‘s deadly Astroworld Festival may not get paid unless they relinquish the right to sue promoters Live Nation and Scoremore.
In an email obtained by Rolling Stone, a manager representing the promoters suggested to a group of workers that they would not receive their paychecks unless they signed an amended employment contract that released Live Nation and Scoremore from any liability.
The part-time employees, who were paid $7.50 per hour to perform tasks like screening wristbands, signed an original contract before Astroworld started. But in the email, sent Nov. 15, the manager wrote, “Hoping to wrap up payroll and get everyone paid ASAP but I still need a few things from some of you! The first agreement included details from 2018. It has been updated so if you can resign and send back.”
According to Rolling Stone, the revised contract states, “(Employee) assumes full responsibility for any injuries or damages that may occur to the (employee) in, on or about the festival and its premises and fully and forever releases and discharges the released parties from any and all claims, demands, damages, rights of action or causes of action resulting from or arising out of the (employee’s) attending and or providing services at the festival.”
The contract also clarifies that employees who sign it acknowledge that they are “not covered nor eligible for any employee benefits or insurance coverage provided by the released parties including but not limited to medical, property and liability insurance and workers compensation benefits.”
An anonymous staffer who received the email, but refused to sign the new contract, told Rolling Stone, “They essentially said, ‘You need to sign this new form in order to get paid.’ It was clear they wanted legal coverage.”
He continued, “I definitely thought they were thinking of business first. ‘How can we cover ourselves?’ I know they weren’t thinking about us and how we were feeling, in my opinion. Nobody reached out to me individually to inquire how I was. It was just the paperwork.”
Reps for Scoremore and Live Nation did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone or PvNew‘s requests for comment.
