Unemployment Insurance Is A Right, Not Charity!

Unemployment Insurance – Get Your Money

By Buzz Roddy
Membership Education Committee

“Unemployment insurance is not charity – it is a right,” I hectored Members who attended AEA’s New York City seminar, “Unemployment Insurance – Get Your Money.” 
Many of us do not realize that while we are employed and drawing a paycheck, the employer is obliged to make contributions based on those earnings to the state Unemployment Insurance Fund from which U/I benefits are paid. To get it, all we have to do is put in a claim.

We are indeed entitled to this money, but how to navigate the byzantine protocols of the various states’ departments of labor?  What to do when Department of Labor claims specialists, unfamiliar with our category of employment, miscalculate or even deny our claims?

The October 7, 2013 seminar was hosted by the Membership Education committee. On hand was Unemployment Insurance (UI) expert Brian Curtis, Supervisor of Labor Disputes for the NY State Department of Labor.  Mr. Curtis walked us through eligibility, filing a claim, and getting ones benefit rate correct.  Possessing 36 years of experience and a gift of clarity, Curtis succeeded in delivering information in bite-sized chunks and answered members’ questions.  (In other hands, these two hours might have been a snore-fest, but the discussion was lively and enlightening.)  The seminar left Members empowered and even smiling with the knowledge that opening and managing an Unemployment Insurance claim is fully within their capabilities.

Some insights and advice:

•  UI is not charity.  It is a right.
•  UI applies to W-2 wages, not 1099 jobs
•  Your UI benefit rate is based on your past earnings
•  You can apply for UI benefits in the state that you live or in the states where you have worked
•  Keep good records (paystubs, W-2s, etc)
•  Can I work while collecting UI? (Answer: Yes—in certain circumstances)
•  Never send original documents to prove a claim
•  Learn the time constraints in opening or appealing a claim
•  Know your benefit rate to the penny before you file
•  If your benefits are denied – appeal. Never give up

So many actors who ask me about UI are either intimidated or ashamed about collecting.  There is no reason to be either.  Learning your states’ UI system and eligibility criteria, though daunting is not impossible.  And you, as a dues-paying member have help—and she has a name: Valerie LaVarco, Equity Business Representative for Unemployment/Worker's Compensation. She is your go-to unemployment insurance specialist. If you have a problem or question, contact her atvlavarco@actorsequity.org or at 212-869-8530.

Unemployment Insurance is for most of us a necessary bridge between jobs which allows us to keep up that dance class; pay the rent; eat.  And this money has been set aside for your use.

Now - get your money!

Reprinted from the Actors' Equity Website, October 2013

My Friend, The Producer (Part 2)

When your boss is a producer, an artistic director, a colleague as well as a friend, how do you deal with him or her when on the other side of the negotiating table?

A greater degree of intimacy with an artistic director/producer gives you an idea of how the field lays when it comes to contracts. Regional theatre in today's United States is not on its strongest footing ever. Very few, if any, have bucketsfull of money hidden away. The best way to negotiate contracts (and a couple of key contracts, like LORT, are up for re-negotiation soon) is to use all that knowledge that we have from working closely as colleagues and friends as a yardstick to know what we can successfully demand, and realistically achieve.

Most theatres of the same economic plane have similar needs and ways of operation. Some are better business people than others, of course. It is our collective wisdom that will allow us to know what and what not to demand; knowing that we seek to, form a symbiosis between our employers and ourselves and not so much a stand-off. Those who are more comfortable in the position of negotiator tend to spearhead contract talks for the producers' side. The signatories-to-be (the producers not actively involved in contract talks) trust in the wisdom and ability of their asignees.

There are producers who enjoy the contract negotiation process. It is the thrill of combat that spurs them along, as well as the actual benefits for their respective business plans. They are committed. They are smart, and they have more money, as a collective, than our union does. We always have an edge in that, they can't present their shows without us. That is power.

That is the macro-relationship. In the micro-relationship, that is the producer in negotiations with a potential and unrepresented employee. There are contract minimums. There are regional producers who will not budge on salary. It never hurts to ask, however. If you are negotiating your own contracts, (many of are right now doing just that. It's Stock Season) make sure you have a list of things that you want and things that you need. Chief among these for you will probably be salary considerations. Have a high (What you think you can get if the market will bear) and a low (the least that you can realistically accept)

If negotiating for salary points comes to a dead end, sometimes it is possible to get a producer to add a per diem. Not all contracts require a per diem. But just because it's not required does not mean that you can't get it. The advantage of per diem, for the producer, is that there are no hidden additional costs. With salaries, the rule of thumb is that on top of the actual salary, the producer will have to pay an additional 40% in fringe benefits. Fringe benefits include AEA pension and health contribution, payroll taxes, unemployment and processing. The advantage for the actor or stage manager, of course, is more money.

Per diem has no on-the-top expenses for the producer. You end up getting more money, but the producer pays less fringes. Of course ones unemployment rate is based on ones salary alone, not salary plus per diem.

There are other points of bargaining, however. Many regional theatres get support, not in money, but in goods and services. There are negotiating points which are not covered in any rule book. Many are locality-specific. Some of them include: lodging upgrades, travel upgrades, temporary health club memberships, comp tickets, and others. Be creative.

Respect For Acting

[originally published 2008]

Perhaps you recognize the above-quoted subject heading as the title of Uta Hagen's famous book on acting. A few years ago, in the green room of a well-respected LORT theatre, I sat with some fellow thesps, sipping coffee - all of us on our Equity ten. This one actor, as well respected as the theatre in which we were working, was explaining the path that his life had taken. He had married a woman - not in our business - who has, for a long time held a lucrative position in a university.

"My wife's job allows me to act. Thank God she's got a REAL job."
Taking umbrage, I said, "I consider THIS a real job!"
My co-worker sniffed and shot back, seemingly conspiratorially, "Well, you know what I mean."
"Yes," I replied, "I DO know what you mean. And THAT'S the problem"

It's bad enough that civilians, on hearing what we do, say, "From that you make a living?!" or, "What do you REALLY do?"

But often we don't get the respect that we deserve from fellow theatre artists, either. Worse still, we don't value ourselves.

Degrees of respect in our society are many times quantified based on an (assumed) income level. I didn't get into show business to make money, but I am like a not-for-profit organization: making a profit is not my primary goal - but it is a goal, nonetheless. One of the hallmarks of our art is that, at its best it looks effortless. You and I know what an artificiality that is.

A not-yet-famous Mick Jagger once said, "I play concerts for free. It's getting to play's what I gets paid for."

I always say that what I do is like being a life insurance salesman. I try to sell new policies to people and try to get past customers to buy more. Glamorous, no? No one has to tell you how much work you put into your career. You know the sacrifices; the training; the effort of presentation; the enuring of oneself the word, 'no.' But then, the show itself makes one almost forget what one had to do to get there.

It's an inside job, and we have to value ourselves first if we want to have that value respected in the marketplace.