CBS News Writers Win Release of Guaranteed Emergency Sick Leave Policy Dashboard Dashboard

WGAW members show the power of solidarity in action.

At the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, Guild members at CBS Broadcasting were working without any extended guarantees for the health and protection of themselves and their families in the event of infection. A petition calling on CBS to institute emergency sick leave policy began circulating with news writers in March.

The petition was launched publicly in mid-April, pulling in over 2,000 signatures and leading to stories in Variety, Deadline and the Hollywood Reporter. Now in May, CBS has at last committed to making an emergency leave policy available to all CBS employees.

Under the policy, 14 days of paid emergency leave is available when:

• An employee undergoes quarantine at the direction of the Company, government agency, or their physician
• An employee’s workplace closes due to COVID-19 and they cannot work remotely
• An employee’s active production is shut down due to a specific COVID-19 event tied to the production, and the production was not already on hiatus or postponed
• An employee contracts COVID-19 or is a caregiver for someone with COVID-19

The strength and solidarity of WGAW members and our supporters has created a better working environment for all CBS workers.