SAG-AFTRA
05/02/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/02/2024 13:47
Additional KMR Claimant Resources
To All KMR Claimants: Filing a Criminal Complaint:
Additional Resources Below this notice, you will find a copy of our initial correspondence to those who attended our last claimants meeting. We are following up on several emails we have received from affected members (in both NY and LA) indicating that some of you have encountered difficulty/frustration in filing a police report with the applicable police departments to which the Union initially referred you. Some of you were indeed successful in filing your criminal complaints, but others among you, apparently, received pushback from front line officers who classified these potential complaints as only "civil" in nature.
First, as we are sure you are aware, SAG-AFTRA does not have the ability to direct applicable police departments to respond to our members in a particular way-we can only provide our claimants with a list of contacts based on the Union's outreach in each of the applicable markets. To be clear, however, the Union believes applicable penal codes make it a crime, for example, to write or pass a bad check, knowing there are insufficient funds in the underlying account. Additionally, based on the size of the check in question, and the jurisdiction in question, some of the conduct alleged here may rise to the level of a misdemeanor/felony, as well. The alleged conduct may even be characterized as embezzlement if perpetrated by a fiduciary on money held for you, in trust.
While there may have been a miscommunication between our affected members and some elements of police enforcement, we nonetheless believe the underlying causes of action we discussed in our meeting have the potential to rise to the level of a crime. Affected members who want to delve deeper into the matter can ask these front line officers (who may have been initially answering your questions) if you can speak with a detective at the precinct or, indeed, even obtain the name of someone at the DA's office to flesh out your position fully and obtain their counsel. This is not, however, within SAG-AFTRA's jurisdiction-we have confirmed this, yet again.
The Union will also be following up with the applicable licensing bodies in the States when our affected members' claims are perfected, and urging those bodies to conduct their own investigations into this matter.
Because some of you who have clearly been frustrated by the experience of reaching out to local law enforcement for whatever reason, you have asked SAG-AFTRA to help you locate more resources to pursue a possible criminal filing. Accordingly, the Union has done some additional outreach/research and we are able to provide you with the following online resources:
For New York, the Manhattan District Attorney's office has a "Financial Crimes" online reporting resource here:
And, the NY State Attorney General offers the general public the following information:
https://ag.ny.gov/file-complaint/employment
Note: there is no guarantee that these sources will be more responsive than what SAG-AFTRA has already provided you, but they do offer additional sources for inquiry if members care to reach out.
For California, victims of fraud in this State may also attempt to access the financial crimes webpage online here, through the District Attorney's office:
https://da.lacounty.gov/contact/forms/fraud-report
The City Attorney's Office in Los Angeles has confirmed to SAG-AFTRA that the appropriate procedure for filing a criminal complaint would be for the victim to do so through contacts with/referrals from local law enforcement. Should CA claimants want additional information/guidance, however, you can also consult the applicable District Attorney roster for your area here:
https://www.cdaa.org/district-attorney-roster
Or the City Attorney Roster here:
https://www.cdaa.org/city-attorney-roster
Note: there is no guarantee that these sources will be more responsive than what SAG-AFTRA has already provided you, but they do offer additional sources for inquiry if members care to reach out.
Hopefully, this information, coupled with the initial resources the Union was able to provide will be helpful to you in the overall process of filing a criminal complaint.
Group Arbitrations:
Additionally, we've also received questions about the group arbitration process through AAA from several claimants. Please see below links from the AAA (American Arbitration Association) website which outlines this process for you:
https://www.adr.org/mass-arbitration
https://www.adr.org/employment/mass-arbitration
https://www.adr.org/sites/default/files/Mass-Arbitration-Supplementary-R...
https://www.adr.org/sites/default/files/document_repository/Employment-W...
Please make sure that when/if you file to include the arbitration provision from the Agency Regulations (attached) with your filing. The Agency Regulations are what bind current (and future) members of the Union and franchised agents to the arbitration process as outlined in the Agency Regulations, 12-C. SAG-AFTRA has negotiated 12-C for your protection, so be sure to include those regulations in this process when you file. Included in 12-C is also some instructive language for any potential bankruptcy trustee who may be appointed, should a bankruptcy be filed by KMR. If you file without that provision and without the 12-C Agency Regulations, your claim may be rejected, delayed, or arbitrated solely under AAA's Employment Rules (as buttressed by applicable State law, which offers far less protection to you as a member). Additionally, AAA may not proceed with the arbitration until both parties voluntarily agree to the process if you do not attach the provision.
PDFs of the full Agency Regulations can be accessed at the following link:
www.sagaftra.org/professionalrepresentativesforms
If you have any questions or need assistance with the mass arbitration process, please contact AAA directly: Via email: [email protected]; By phone: 1-888-774-6904
*Please note, with mass arbitration, while each person will still need to fill out an individual Demand for Arbitration Form, one person will need to file all the forms on behalf of everyone at the same time (be that one person from the group, or an attorney) directly with AAA, per the above instructions.* Should you at any time decide to hire counsel, either individually or as a group, we would be pleased to talk with them.
Sharing Information/Creating a Community of Performer-Claimants:
We continue to receive requests via email to share your contact info/potentially pool your resources with other claimants. As a reminder, if you would like to elect to share your contact info with fellow claimants, please complete the form at the below-referenced link no later than Friday, May 3rd. On the following Monday, May 6th, we will email out a list of contact information to those who elected to share their information, and you can take it from there: https://forms.gle/pTCHfgkoyxa4h5hX8
We know this is a lot of information, in a rapidly evolving fact scenario, and some of it can be inherently confusing-and certainly frustrating. Please feel free to call us if we can provide further assistance to you or your reps., or if you require additional guidance.
NEXT AND FINAL AGGRIEVED PERFORMERS MEETING
Our next "aggrieved performers" meeting has been scheduled, via Zoom, for Thursday May 16th, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. PDT. At that meeting most of the Professional Representatives Department staff involved in this process will again be in attendance, as well as representatives from the SAG-AFTRA Legal Department to provide additional support and answer all of your questions. We have also taken the unusual step of extending an invitation to the Chair and Vice Chairs of the Professional Representatives Committee to also assist in the meeting, as needed. Your Committee Chairs have been kept abreast of all developments throughout as the situation with KMR continues to unfold and they may offer an invaluable member perspective as well.
Please note: this notice is purely a "save the date" one-so you hopefully have the opportunity to carve out some time in your calendars well in advance if you are desirous of/wish to attend. We will be sending out, shortly, registration information for the meeting itself, as the date draws closer; an event which we anticipate may likely host a very large number of you who have undoubtedly been wondering "what's next?" Please note this meeting is only for aggrieved performers who were performing SAG-AFTRA covered work, and you will be required to register accordingly.
If you have not yet provided adequate proof of loss for union-covered work to the Professional Representatives Department, please email the required information as soon as possible to [email protected]. For those accessing this information from sagaftra.org, please email [email protected] to obtain copies of the aforementioned attachments.