Models, Survivors Push for Legal Protections in the Wake of Weinstein Overturning

NEW YORK, NY (04/25/2024) (readMedia)-- Following the New York State Court of Appeals' decision to overturn Harvey Weinstein's 2020 conviction on felony sex crime charges, the Model Alliance held a zoom press conference in response featuring founder and executive director Sara Ziff, board member Carré Otis, Marissa Hoechstetter, and the Sexual Harassment Working Group.

Recording of the press conference is linked here.

The Model Alliance, the leading organization advancing labor rights in the fashion industry, was integral in the passage of New York's Adult Survivors Act, and supports making the Adult Survivors Act lookback window permanent, to eliminate the civil statutes of limitations for survivors of sexual abuse and ensure that justice is accessible to all survivors. In order to prevent abuse from happening in the first place, the Model Alliance is advocating for the Fashion Workers Act, to equip models with labor protections and establish a zero-tolerance policy for abuse within the fashion industry.

"The decision by the Court of Appeals is an indictment of the criminal legal system and a gut punch for survivors like me who were victimized not only by Weinstein and his associates, but by the lack of regulation in the fashion industry that knowingly puts young women and girls at the mercy of serial rapists like Weinstein and Bill Cosby every day. The Model Alliance fought hard for the Adult Survivors Act so that survivors could get the justice previously denied them, and we're fighting now to expand it together with the Fashion Workers Act to prevent this abuse from happening in the first place. We don't want to hear more handwringing from Albany lawmakers, we want action now," said Sara Ziff, founder and executive director of the Model Alliance.

"If the D.A. had taken my case seriously in 2015, we wouldn't be here. This is an on-going failure of the justice system – and the courts – to take survivors seriously and to protect our interests. D.A. Bragg ran for office in 2021 because his predecessor failed so many of us. We expect him to pursue Weinstein now. New York lawmakers can also do right by survivors by making the Adult Survivors Act permanent, so that survivors can at least seek justice in the civil system when the criminal courts fail us." said Ambra Battilana Gutierrez.

"So many of Weinstein's victims were models – young women and girls – knowingly placed in danger by the people supposedly looking out for their interests, and left to fend for themselves just like I was when I was raped. That's exactly why the Model Alliance is fighting to expand the Adult Survivors Act so that there's no statute of limitations on civil justice when the criminal system fails us, as it so often does like today. And it's why Albany lawmakers need to pass the Fashion Workers Act now to prevent this kind of abuse from happening in the first place. As a survivor, I'm sickened and appalled by today's decision by the NYS Court of Appeals, but as an advocate I know the fight is long and we will win," said Carré Otis, model and Board Member of the Model Alliance.

"For years the message survivors received from the criminal justice system was that our single voices weren't enough, there needed to be more of us for prosecutors to care. Now that we have collective power, the message we're receiving today is that we're too much. It's an appalling flaw in our legal system that what overturned this verdict was the testimony of other survivors, given what we know about Weinstein's decades of predation. The man is a serial rapist and his victims deserve better," said Marissa Hoechstetter.

"Me Too is not a moment - it is a movement. And a movement requires us to look at systemic issues. We don't live and die by one case. We will keep going. Over the past few years, New York lawmakers have shown what it means to stand with survivors, but too many barriers still exist in our courts to say the work is done. We will keep fighting," said Erica Vladimer of the Sexual Harassment Working Group.

The Adult Survivors Act provided a one year look back window for any survivor who was sexually abused as an adult (18+) to sue their abuser in civil court, even if the statute of limitation had expired. It went into effect on November 24, 2022 and closed on November 23, 2023. Now survivors are pushing for the window to be permanent.

Background on the Fashion Workers Act:

Modeling agencies are considered to be management companies under New York State General Business Law §171(8), known as the "incidental booking exception," allowing them to escape licensing and regulation. In almost every case, management companies are granted blanket "power of attorney" as part of their agreement to represent models, giving management companies power to accept payments on behalf of the model, deposit checks and deduct expenses, as well as book jobs, negotiate the model's rate of pay, and give third parties permission to use the model's image, while having no obligation to act in their talents' best interests.

This leaves models unprotected outside the terms of their individual contracts – which tend to be exploitative and one-sided in favor of the management company – and creates a lack of transparency and accountability when it comes to basic issues like health and safety and having insight into one's own finances. For example, models often don't know whether and how much they'll be paid for jobs booked through management companies, which deduct various unexplained fees from their earnings, in addition to a 20 percent commission from the model and a 20 percent service fee from the client. Models are held to multi-year, auto-renewing contracts without any guarantee of actually being booked paid work, which ensnares them in cycles of debt and makes models highly vulnerable to other forms of abuse, including human trafficking. When models experience abuse, they do not have a safe channel to file work-related grievances without a risk of retaliation.

The Fashion Workers Act would address these issues by closing the legal loophole by which management companies escape accountability and create basic protections for the models who are the faces of New York's fashion industry.

The Fashion Workers Act would require management companies to:

• Establish a fiduciary duty to act in the best interests of their talent
• Provide models with copies of contracts and agreements
• Notify formerly represented models if they collect royalties on their behalf
• Register and deposit a surety bond of $50,000 with the NYS Department of State
• Obtain clear, written consent for the use of a model's digital replica
• Protect the health and safety of models, including by establishing a zero-tolerance policy for abuse

And discontinue bad practices such as:

• Presenting power of attorney as a necessary condition for entering into a contract with the management company
• Collecting signing fees or deposits from models
• Charging models interest on payment of their earnings
• Charging more than the daily fair market rate for accommodation
• Deducting any other fee or expense than the agreed upon commission
• Renewing the contract without the model's affirmative consent
• Imposing a commission fee greater than twenty percent of the model's compensation
• Taking retaliatory action against a model for filing a complaint
• Engaging in discrimination or harassment of any kind against a model on the basis of race, ethnicity, and other legally permissible categories under Section 296(a) of the Executive Law.

About the Model Alliance

Founded in 2012, the Model Alliance has been at the forefront of advancing labor rights in the fashion industry for the last decade. Through strategic research, policy initiatives, and campaigns, the Model Alliance aims to promote fair treatment, equal opportunity, and more sustainable practices in the fashion industry, from the runway to the factory floor. The Model Alliance has championed multiple pieces of legislation, including the Child Model Act in New York and the Talent Protections Act in California. The organization also runs the world's only industry-specific support line, MA Support. In 2021, the organization received the first Positive Social Influence Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America at the CFDA Awards.

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