COVID-19 safety measures will stay in place until June 30 according to the newly extended Return to Work Agreement published by several Hollywood unions including SAG-AFTRA and the DGA, and AMPTP.
While Los Angeles County may have allowed vaccinated people to walk around outside without masks, it doesn’t mean people working on Hollywood sets will be able to get rid of their masks anytime soon. The Return to Work Agreement, which includes detailed COVID-19 safety protocols for screen productions, was set to expire on April 30. The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and the various entertainment unions/guilds—SAG-AFTRA, Directors Guild of America (DGA), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), and the Basic Crafts—have agreed to extend the current safety protocols until June 30.
While there are no major changes to the Return to Work Agreement, though noticeably, COVID-19 vaccines are not mandatory; workers, however, can use their paid sick leave to get the vaccine and recover if they experience side effects. Everyone working under the current contracts are entitled to 10 days of paid sick leave for COVID-19 events, such as testing positive for COVID-19 and having to quarantine. The extension resets those days, so everyone working under those contracts will have 10 sick days, even if they used them prior to the extension.
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Sources told the Hollywood Reporter that the extension allows the various signatories more time to renegotiate a new Return to Work Agreement that will include updated safety protocols on masking and vaccinations. For now, it’s still too early to make a decision, especially as public health protocols are changing frequently as more people are being vaccinated.
The Return to Work Agreement, which was put in place in September 2020, established a daily testing protocol for cast and crew. It also created a zone system, which placed different workers into specific zones, which limits the number of people they come in contact with. And the only people who can be unmasked are actors when they are on set or getting makeup applied.