diff --git a/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/viewsets/permissions.py b/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/viewsets/permissions.py
index 66124b5c3ba77f70eecd7533369037b9d1f5d88e..5ec90752626b1523eb195c883d84ee43bdc9900f 100644
--- a/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/viewsets/permissions.py
+++ b/SAS/TMSS/backend/src/tmss/tmssapp/viewsets/permissions.py
@@ -233,6 +233,10 @@ class IsProjectMemberFilterBackend(drf_filters.BaseFilterBackend):
         if view.action != 'list':
             return queryset
 
+        # if a system role allows general access to the model, do not filter
+        if TMSSDjangoModelPermissions().has_permission(request, view):
+            return queryset
+
         # we don't filer for superuser (e.g. in test environment, where a regular user is created to test filtering specifically)
         if request.user.is_superuser:
             logger.info("IsProjectMemberFilterBackend: User=%s is superuser. Not enforcing project permissions!" % request.user)