Dive Brief:
- The Fashion Workers Act will go into effect this week in New York state. The legislation is meant to safeguard models from exploitation through regulations and prohibitions for model management companies and their clients.
- Beginning Thursday, model management companies must comply with the law, but they aren’t required to register with the state until Dec. 21, according to the New York State Department of Labor.
- The law requires management firms to “act in good faith” for the models they represent as well as use their “best efforts” to secure paid work for models, among other regulations.
Dive Insight:
The Fashion Workers Act is designed to “rectify the current treatment of models” as independent contractors under the Fair Labor Standards Act, said Warren Koshofer, partner at law firm Michelman & Robinson, in a statement.
Under New York State law, modeling and creative agencies were considered “management companies,” which Koshofer said allowed agencies to escape licensing and regulation through the “incidental booking exception.”
The new measure that takes effect this week, which was first proposed in 2022 and signed into law late last year, also requires firms to establish a policy that addresses abuse and harassment, which must then be shared with the models the firms represent.
Clients hiring the models must pay for overtime and provide a meal break if the work lasts more than eight hours during a 24-hour period. Clients will also have to establish a company policy that addresses abuse and harassment.
Both model management companies and clients must get written consent before using a model’s digital replica or AI-engineered representation of a model’s likeness. That contract has to be separate from representation agreements and must detail the scope, purpose and rate of pay.
The law further prohibits model management firms from entering into a power of attorney agreement with models as a condition of being represented. This had previously been a common industry practice that allowed agencies to accept payments on behalf of the models and gave third parties permission to use a model’s image.
The law also prohibits agencies and clients from taking retaliatory action against models for filing complaints.
The Fashion Workers Act brings “immediate and substantial changes to daily operations” for model managers, said Dale Noelle, a former model and CEO of True Model Management. The entire industry is adjusting and revising their contracts, she said in a statement.
However, the law’s current provisions are just a baseline and more work needs to be done for stronger protections, Noelle said. She cited the need for enforceable payment timelines for clients and consequences for those that don’t meet this requirement, contractual terms that protect models’ digital rights in perpetuity and requiring all agencies regardless of size to have insurance and bonding requirements.
“The models who power this global industry deserve nothing less than full financial security and ironclad professional safeguards,” Noelle said. “Let’s not wait for the next legislative cycle to do what’s right — the time for meaningful action is now.”
