Hollywood Commission's Workplace Misconduct Resource Opened Up to All Entertainment Industry Workers
In 2024, the Anita Hill-led Hollywood Commission launched a first-of-its-kind workplace misconduct reporting tool tailored to the entertainment industry that was quickly adopted by unions and select studios.
Now, one aspect of the MyConnext platform is being opened up to all industry workers: its ombuds program, which offers human advisers for workers faced with tricky situations on the job. The two-person ombuds office provides a space for workers to confidentially learn about their rights and options as they face conflict or bad behavior on set or in the office.
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Previously, the ombuds office was only accessible to members of unions that participate in MyConnext, including the Directors Guild of America, Writers Guild of America West and IATSE, and workers on projects from Netflix, Amazon Studios and the Kennedy/Marshall Company.
Now, any worker regardless of union status can participate, from production assistants to producers.
'One year ago, we launched MyConnext with our participating organizations, and since then, their leadership and commitment to worker well-being have paved the way for this expansion,' Hollywood Commission executive director Malia Arrington said in a statement. 'In the year since launch, one of our most important discoveries has been what an invaluable resource the Ombuds has been, and what an opportunity it is to bring it to everyone. As the first-of-its-kind, industry-wide resource, the Ombuds is an industry-wide game changer.'
MyConnext's one full-time ombuds, Lillian Rivera, said in a statement that the program is 'making a real difference in these individual lives.' She added of workers who participate, 'I think they appreciate that I'm a real person — not a phone tree of mysterious options, not a chatbot or AI.'
The ombuds office is described as an unbiased resource that can help advise workers on when to keep records, what reporting behavior can look like and what confidentiality and anonymity mean in that context, but cannot offer legal advise or counseling.
Though launched by the Hollywood Commission, MyConnext operates separately from the organization, which formed in the wake of the #MeToo movement by producer Kathleen Kennedy, lawyer Nina Shaw and activist-entrepreneur Freada Kapor Klein to combat harassment, discrimination and abuse in Hollywood.
Aside from its ombuds program, the MyConnext platform offers workers affiliated with participating organizations a tool to report misconduct in real time, for their own personal use and/or to submit to their union or employer.
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