Recently, when it comes to claims stand-ins might have against a production, Stand-In Central became aware of a discrepancy between SAG-AFTRA contract language and the forms SAG-AFTRA publishes for filing those claims. Stand-ins can use these forms for submitting claims to SAG-AFTRA after they have a problem on set or are not paid appropriately.

The discrepancy between the contract language and the claim forms seems to lead stand-ins to believe they have less time than the contract says they have for submitting a claim.

Here’s more insight into the issue and how to address it with SAG-AFTRA if you need to do so.

Filing a Claim

When you work on dramatic television projects or feature films, you are most likely working under a contract known as a collective bargaining agreement. Specifically, on most dramatic TV shows and on feature films, you are working  under the contract known as the Television/Theatrical Agreement.

The Theatrical aspect of that contract is sometimes also called the “Codified Basic Agreement” or “CBA,” and the television part of that is sometimes also simply called the “Television Agreement.” Sometimes these contracts are simply abbreviated as “TV/TH.”

When you have an issue with a production that is signed to the Television/Theatrical Agreement, you can submit a grievance to SAG-AFTRA, which is often simply called “submitting a claim.” You can do this orally or in written form.

Basically, in your claim, you testify to what happened to you in the hopes of getting SAG-AFTRA to pursue and settle your grievance. For example, if you were not paid for working in smoke when you were standing in on a feature film, you can submit a grievance to SAG-AFTRA that says you were not paid smoke pay on the day you worked, and you can provide evidence and argument why you should have been paid smoke pay. SAG-AFTRA may pursue your claim, and as a result, you may eventually get compensation or a settlement due to you.

SAG-AFTRA’s Claim Inquiry Forms

The more formal method for submitting your grievance — and the one we’d recommend for documentation purposes — is the written method.  SAG-AFTRA publishes a number of different claim inquiry forms you can use for submitting your grievance/claim.

These claim inquiry forms are PDF documents you can handwrite or type into, then submit to the SAG-AFTRA business representative for the particular production. To find the appropriate SAG-AFTRA business rep, you can find that person’s name on the Production Show Sheet under your particular production if it is listed. You need to log in to the SAG-AFTRA website to find it. Or you can simply call the Television Department or Theatrical Department at your local SAG-AFTRA office and ask who is the business rep for that production. You will need to get the email address for that business rep, and getting the phone number would not hurt.

A claim inquiry form does not require a lot of time to complete. In many cases you can fill it out and submit it in five minutes. You need to fill in some basic information about yourself, about the production, the day you worked, and what happened to you. You also have to sign the document. If you don’t have all of the information about a production, that is usually okay — simply complete as much of the form as you can, truthfully and factually. You can be as thorough as you believe you need to be in describing your grievance.

If you handwrite your claim inquiry form but don’t have a scanner, you can use your smartphone to photograph your form and email it to the SAG-AFTRA business rep for your production.

The Different Claim Inquiry Forms SAG-AFTRA Publishes

First off, SAG-AFTRA publishes a small range of claim inquiry forms for different circumstances. It’s helpful to use the appropriate claim inquiry form when submitting your grievance.

But the SAG-AFTRA webpage that links to the claim inquiry forms is a bit of a mess, and SAG-AFTRA has created some overlap between forms. As a result, it can be needlessly confusing finding the appropriate claim inquiry form for your situation.

SAG-AFTRA tends to divide claim inquiry forms between the Los Angeles Zone and the New York Zone. Some of the forms seem to cover both zones.  SAG-AFTRA also tends to divide claim inquiry forms between claims by principal performers and claims by background actors/extra performers. Again, some of the forms seem to cover both principal performers and background actors/extra performers.

Ben's Tip!

If you are working as a stand-in, you most likely would submit a claim inquiry form that a background actor would use to submit a grievance.

If you are working as a stand-in on a Television/Theatrical Agreement production, you are fundamentally classified as a background actor, so you would use background actor claim forms.

Organizing SAG-AFTRA’s Different Claim Inquiry Forms

Below are the claim inquiry forms divided up and available on the SAG-AFTRA website as of July 29, 2019. They have been uploaded to Stand-In Central for historic preservation.  Visit SAG-AFTRA’s “Filing a Claim Inquiry” webpage for the latest versions of claim inquiry forms.

☐ Claim Inquiry Forms for All SAG-AFTRA Workers

New York Zone Only: General Claim Inquiry Form (All NY SAG-AFTRA Workers)

Los Angeles Zone Only: General Claim Inquiry Form (All L.A. SAG-AFTRA Workers)

☐ Claim Inquiry Forms Specifically for Background Actors, Extra Performers, and Stand-Ins

Either Zone:

☐ Claim Inquiry Forms Specifically for Principal Performers

Los Angeles Zone Only: Principal Claim Inquiry Form

(No corresponding form for New York Zone principal performers. Use the General Claim Inquiry Form for all SAG-AFTRA Workers in the New York Zone, linked above.)

What the Contract Says Is a “Timely” Grievance

When it comes to filing a grievance with SAG-AFTRA about a production, the Television/Theatrical Agreement explicitly defines what constitutes a “timely” submission of the grievance.

As of this post’s publication, the most current version of the contract language is available online in the 2014 version of the agreement.  The language can be found toward the end of the agreement in the following places:

  • If you are standing in in the Los Angeles Zone, the contract language is in Schedule X, Part I, Section 54, “Statute of Limitations.”
  • If you are standing in in the New York Zone, the contract language is in Schedule X, Part II, Section 55, “Grievance Procedure: Statute of Limitations.”

The contract language says the same thing for both zones on what constitutes “timely” submission of a grievance.  Both Schedules read (underlining added):

Any individual dispute or claim between a background actor and the Producer shall be deemed to be waived by such background actor and by the Union in the event that a timely grievance is not filed either by such background actor or by the Union. In order to be timely, a grievance or dispute (other than one relating to damage to or loss of the background actor’s wardrobe or property) must be presented to the employer in writing or orally, within thirty (30) days after the involved employee had knowledge, or reasonably should have had knowledge, of the occurrence of the facts giving rise to the grievance or dispute.

Note that the contract provides 30 days for the submission of a grievance to SAG-AFTRA.

Also note that the clock starts ticking not from the date of work, but when you had knowledge or reasonably had knowledge of the facts giving rise to your grievance.

This is to say if you worked on July 1, and you found out on July 15 that you were not paid for something when you worked on July 1, by this contract language your knowledge that you did not get paid for something starts the clock from July 15, so you have 30 days from July 15 to submit a grievance. By this read of the contract, you don’t simply have until July 30, which would be 30 days from the date of work. As a result, you may have more time to submit a grievance than you first thought, if you reasonably discovered an issue more than 30 days from your date of work.

… And What a SAG-AFTRA Claim Inquiry Form Says Instead

The Television/Theatrical Agreement is explicit on what constitutes a “timely” submission of a grievance.

So why does a SAG-AFTRA claim inquiry form explain a shorter window for submission of a grievance?

The General Background Actor Claim Inquiry Form that stand-ins in either zone can use for submitting claims says toward its top:

TV/TH claims must be filed with SAG within 25 days of occurrence

Closeup on the SAG-AFTRA claim inquiry form currently on the union’s website wrongly stating the contractually provided period for timely grievance submission.

For one, the union’s name is SAG-AFTRA, not SAG. But as you can read, this language on the claim inquiry form is in direct conflict with the explicit language in the Television/Theatrical Agreement.  In fact, by the contract, TV/TH claims must be filed with SAG-AFTRA within 30 days of not simply the occurrence but of knowledge of the occurrence of the facts giving rise to the grievance.

There is a difference between “the occurrence of a grievance” and “the occurrence of the facts giving rise to a grievance.”  For example, if you worked on January 2, and you suspected that your Social Security Earnings Record would not reflect that income, you would not find that out factually until more than a year after your date of work given the processing timelines of Social Security Administration. The clock on the submission of your grievance would start on the date you discovered the facts around the issue, not on January 2, and not on the day you started suspecting something amiss with your record. It is tough to gauge when exactly an occurrence founding an grievance begins. But it is easier to gauge the date on which you became aware of the facts giving rise to the grievance.

Why Would SAG-AFTRA Mislead Grievants about Their Contract Rights?

It is a wonder why SAG-AFTRA would publish on a claim inquiry form that SAG-AFTRA workers under the Television/Theatrical Agreement would have anything less than 30 days to submit their grievance. The contract promises a 30-day period, not a 25-day period.

Given this confusion, it is in your interest to file any claim you have as soon as possible so that there is no debate about the timeliness of your grievance submission. But, in the event you submit it 26 or so days after the occurrence of the facts that gave rise to your grievance, make sure to have the contract language at the ready in the event that SAG-AFTRA tries to claim that your submission is not timely and thus won’t pursue it.

Have you ever had issues around the timeliness of the submission of your claims? Do you know why SAG-AFTRA’s claim inquiry form has a claim period that is less than what is in the Television/Theatrical Agreement? Share your insights in the comments below!