SAG Lawsuit

Thousands of union members discriminated against across the country, SAG-AFTRA members are now filing a lawsuit in response.

SAG-AFTRA members, were you discriminated against or lost work for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine? HAVE YOU BEEN HARMED BY SAG-AFTRA’s INTRUSIVE RETURN TO WORK AGREEMENT? Want to do something about it? Help has arrived. 

SAG-AFTRA’s poorly-enacted “Return-to-Work Agreement” (later named COVID-19 Safety Agreement, hereinafter collectively referred to as “RTWA”) subjected our  members to invasive testing, masking, being banned from work and in some cases being effectively blacklisted.  Some of our members were forced to sign up for a digital health pass to enter production grounds, denied hot meals on set, or banned from work without proof of the COVID vaccine. Members were terminated from their jobs because they would not comply with the COVID mandate and measures. Other members were forced to watch potential employment opportunities vanish as union representatives fielded casting notices in violation of the RTWA requesting “vaccinated only,” with no guidance and protection from SAG-AFTRA.

Now in 2023 we are again faced with forced masking, additional experimental booster shots and other scientifically unsupported protocols. Further, while the RTWA was lifted, many SAG-AFTRA members are still subject to COVID protocols and mandates in order to either audition, be cast, or continue working on a production already in contract. We have to draw the line, enough is enough. No longer will we allow careers and livelihoods to be ruined by a mandated medical procedure. It’s our duty to protect our Union brothers and sisters – as our union will not. Many of us have lost everything: family, friends, careers, opportunities, homes, businesses, and for some, even their lives. 

The mental health turmoil these mandates have caused is unfathomable. There are SAG-AFTRA members who chose to comply and are now faced with irreversible damage to their bodies while simultaneously losing their health insurance eligibility, (for having their work stripped from them), which would have allowed them to seek medical assistance for the damage the vaccine physically caused. Every waking day is a fight for their health and there has been no support for their battles from the very union who was supposed to fight for our working conditions and civil rights. Even now, union strike negotiators refuse to consider our perspective on these issues.  

PERK has worked tirelessly – and successfully -- to protect children, families, and parental rights, along with your right to work, travel, and live in society, to preserve medical freedom and bodily autonomy, while protecting the citizens from unconstitutional mandates and government overreach. This has become a national fight that has united millions across the country. 2020 was a pivotal year that drastically changed the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the globe. There was unnecessary and unfortunate loss, panic, and worldwide fear. Out of this fear rose unprecedented public health protocols, unlawful mandates, and irresponsible public policy.

At a time when members are holding the AMPTP accountable for egregious violations of our wages and working conditions, there must be accountability for willfully allowing those same employers to discriminate against union members via the current version of SAG-AFTRA’s RTWA. Members were avoidably pressured, coerced, stressed, and continue to suffer under emotional and financial duress.

So far, more than a hundred SAG-AFTRA members have expressed interest in a pending lawsuit against SAG-AFTRA’s unlawful COVID vaccine mandates, testing and proof of vaccination. To support the efforts, we are welcoming and encouraging donations here to advocate against current SAG-AFTRA mandates, loss of work, and discrimination. The fight to secure bodily autonomy and basic human rights is incredibly costly. Even if you were not directly affected, please consider making an online donation here. Your donations of any amount will not be publicly disclosed. 

MOST IMPORTANTLY: If you were discriminated against for your sincerely held beliefs or personal health reasons, for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine and/or refusing the boosters and have interest in more information about this lawsuit, reach out to PERK here. All questions will be fielded through this Survey Link.

Thank you for your interest and support, for current updates visit: www.ipaidmydues.org 

About PERK

PERK is a 501(c)(3) non-profit Organization. PERK's mission is to advocate for medical freedom, bodily autonomy, children’s rights, parental rights, and civil rights. PERK has over 30,000 members throughout California, consisting of union members, public employees, first responders, parents of K-12 children in California, and college students among others. Our mission to preserve medical freedom and stop mandates expanded beyond working for only children and now include adults.  To learn more about us visit the website.