HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. – Today, a lawsuit was filed by Gerard Fox Law PC on behalf of Protection of the Educational Rights of Kids (PERK). PERK is bringing this lawsuit on behalf of more than 100 SAG-AFTRA members who have filed individual complaints for damages in Los Angeles Superior Court against their Union. The lawsuits highlight SAG-AFTRA’s poorly enacted “Return-to-Work Agreement” (RTWA), later named COVID-19 Safety Agreement. The RTWA subjected SAG-AFTRA union members to invasive testing, masking, and being banned from work. In many cases, they were effectively blacklisted from the industry altogether.

Dozens of SAG-AFTRA members were banned from work without proof of the COVID-19 vaccine, forced to sign up for a digital health passport to enter production grounds, or denied hot meals on set. Other members were terminated because they would not comply with the COVID mandate and measures. Other members stood by watching employment opportunities vanish as movie industry representatives, agents, managers, stunt coordinators, and dance choreographers fielded employment-guarded opportunities when requiring “vaccinated only” submissions without any protection from SAG-AFTRA.

“SAG-AFTRA successfully held the AMPTP accountable for egregious violations of union member wages and working conditions and acted quickly on issues pertaining to artificial intelligence and streaming services,” said Breyon J. Davis, partner at Gerard Fox Law, P.C and lead attorney on the cases. “But the Union ignored health risks to members when it came to COVID-19 mandates and protocols. Each of the plaintiffs seek to ensure this doesn’t happen again as they have exhausted all union remedies with no solutions provided.”

“Now, the union must be held accountable for willfully allowing these same employers to discriminate against union members via the recent iteration of SAG-AFTRA’s RTWA,” added Davis. “Members were pressured, coerced, stressed, and forced to continue suffering under emotional and financial duress. There will likely be many more plaintiffs who join our efforts in the days and weeks ahead.”

“SAG-AFTRA union members that suffered from discrimination, lost work, and/or were harmed by SAG-AFTRA’s Return to Work Agreement are now taking matters into their own hands by filing lawsuits against the Union to preserve their medical freedom, bodily autonomy, and freedom of choice. For the aforementioned reasons, PERK is helping spearhead this effort,” said Amy Bohn, PERK president. The mass action lawsuits include the following claims as applicable to each plaintiff: Breach of Fiduciary Duty of Fair Representation in Violation of 29 USC § 159(a) (National Labor Relations Act); Breach of Contract; Breach of California Common Law Fiduciary Duties; Breach of the Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing; Negligence; Tortious Interference with a Business Advantage; Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress; and Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress. Collectively, these filings, referred to as a mass tort lawsuit, are brought individually in Los Angeles Superior Court and the presiding judge will evaluate the damages suffered in each case.

“We must draw the line. Enough is enough. We will no longer 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 has not, and apparently will not. Many SAG-AFTRA members lost everything: family, friends, careers, opportunities, homes, and businesses,” said Brian F. Durkin, SAG-AFTRA member.

Concluded Dorian Kingi, Creature Actor and 30-year SAG-AFTRA member: “The mental health turmoil these mandates have caused is unfathomable. There are SAG-AFTRA members who chose to comply and now face irreversible damage to their bodies. Those who did not comply had irreparable damage to their careers and livelihoods. Because they lost their jobs, they also lost their health insurance eligibility. When work was stripped, so were the minimum requirements for healthcare eligibility. Ironically, for any damage the vaccine physically caused, the ability to medically remedy the condition had been seized. Every waking day is a fight for their health without support in their battles from the very Union that was supposed to fight for our working conditions and civil rights. Even now, union strike negotiators refuse to consider our perspective on these issues.”

To learn more about PERK visit our website. And to learn more about the lawsuit filings, please visit our website at www.ipaidmydues.org