Local 802 contended on Wednesday that there isn’t a violation of the labor contract because both musicians are being “paid in full.”
“Nothing in the CBA requires the Philharmonic to schedule a musician to rehearse or perform,” the union said in its motion over Muckey. “Rather, the CBA only mandates that members of the orchestra be ’employed,’ i.e., paid, for 52 weeks each year.”
The union said that it didn’t decline requests from Muckey and Wang to enforce the award but “would await the results” of the Philharmonic’s investigation into the orchestra’s workplace culture.
The Philharmonic said in its dismissal motions that the musicians hadn’t pointed to where the arbitration award makes the orchestra schedule them for “rehearsals and performances regardless of the circumstances.”
The musicians were put on paid leave “pending investigations into the culture of and conduct by employees” of The Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York Inc., the orchestra said.
“Muckey cannot state a claim that the society breached the CBA by allegedly failing to comply with the award, since paid leave is not equivalent to termination,” according to the orchestra’s motion over Muckey.
