Former Trek Stuntwoman Loses Disability Pension
2 min read
Leslie Hoffman, a stuntwoman who worked on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, has had her disability pension taken away from her.
Hoffman was a stuntwoman on eight episodes of Voyager, and twelve episodes of Deep Space Nine. She was also a double for Roxann Dawson on Voyager.
A member of the Screen Actor’s Guild (SAG) for twenty-five years, the sixty-one-year old sustained a traumatic brain injury, but was denied health benefits and, after lawsuits, the disability benefits she had been receiving. SAG Pension and Health is also demanding repayment for the years that they had already paid her.
Trustees for SAG Pension and Health were audiotaped making fun of the former stuntwoman and her injuries, and they were heard trying to figure out ways to deny her claim. Some of those sound clips can be found here.
A Change.Org petition, found here, requests that Hoffman receives her disability and pension again and that SAG Pension and Heath stops delaying when it comes to the matter. “In April 2014 the Ninth Circuit of the US Court of Appeals ruled that SAG P&H had violated their own policy by not having a second opinion executed. Since that time the Plan has continued to delay, refused to submit necessary paperwork, and neglected to meet agreed deadlines for the review that would allow Ms. Hoffman to obtain a fair decision on her case, thus causing the filing of a second ERISA lawsuit.”
In the meanwhile, as the legal process grinds on, a GoFundMe page has been set up for the former stuntwoman. “If you watched Star Trek, Nightmare on Elm Street, The Love Boat, or M*A*S*H, then you have probably seen Leslie’s work,” said a friend of Hoffman’s. “Please help if you can. No donation is too small.”
Hoffman as Torres photo courtesy of Memory Alpha.
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