NY Senate Labor Committee Passes Fashion Workers Act

NEW YORK, NY (05/10/2022) (readMedia)-- Today, the NYS Senate Labor Committee passed the Fashion Workers Act – a piece of pro-labor legislation introduced by Senator Brad Hoylman and Assemblymember Karines Reyes that would regulate predatory management agencies that currently operate without oversight. The bill now heads to the Senate Finance Committee for a vote.

Fashion is a $2.5 trillion global industry, and New York is its center: Fashion Week alone generates close to $600 million in income each year to the State, and the industry employs 180,000 people, accounting for 6 percent of the city's workforce and generating $10.9 billion in total wages. And yet, the creative workforce behind the industry's success – models, influencers, stylists, makeup artists, hair stylists, and other creative artists – are not afforded basic labor protections in New York. The Fashion Workers Act would close this loophole and create basic protections for fashion's creative workforce. The bill has secured the support of the CFDA and thousands of fashion workers, including supermodel Karen Elson, the first openly transgender model to be hired by Chanel Teddy Quinlivan, L'Oréal Global Ambassador Nidhi Sunil and celebrity makeup artist Daniel Martin.

"It's unacceptable that the creative workforce behind the $2.5 trillion global fashion industry still lacks basic protections in the State that gave birth to the American labor movement. New York derives huge benefit off the backs of young women and girls indentured to predatory management agencies. The Fashion Workers Act is a necessary and urgent step forward. The Model Alliance is grateful to our bill sponsor Senator Hoylman and the Senate Labor Committee for moving the bill, and we urge Albany lawmakers to act now by passing this legislation through both chambers," said Sara Ziff, founder and executive director of the Model Alliance.

"Fashion is one of New York's most important industries: it accounts for 5.5% of the workforce, $11 billion in wages, and nearly $2 billion in tax revenue each year. And yet the creative workforce behind the industry's success are not afforded basic labor protections in New York. The Fashion Workers Act changes that. The Act creates work protections for fashion's creative workforce - such as models, stylists, and makeup artists - and I am delighted it passed in Committee today. We would not be here today without the tremendous work from the Model Alliance, and I am excited for the bill to head to the Finance Committee," said Senator Brad Hoylman.

Unlike talent agencies, modeling and creative 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, agencies are granted "power of attorney" as part of their agreement to represent talent, giving agencies 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. Models and creatives often wait months, even years to get paid for jobs through management companies, which deduct various unexplained fees from their earnings, in addition to a 20 percent commission both on the model's fee and the client's payment. Model management companies crowd young models in model apartments, where they warehouse anywhere from six to 10 young women in one apartment and charge them each upwards of $2,000 a month for an apartment worth far less. Models are held to exclusive, multi-year contracts without any promise to book work or be paid in a timely manner, which ensnares them in cycles of debt and makes models highly vulnerable to other forms of abuse, including human trafficking.

The Fashion Workers Act would require management agencies to:

• Accept responsibility to act in the best interests of their talent
• Pay models and creatives within 45 days of completing a job
• Provide models and creatives with copies of contracts and agreements
• Notify former models and creatives if the management collects royalties from a talent they no longer represent
• Register and deposit a surety bond of $50,000 with the NYS Department of State
• Conduct reasonable inquiry into health and safety on set
• Discontinue bad practices such as
  • Collecting signing fees or deposits from models
  • 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 or creative's affirmative consent
  • Imposing a commission fee greater than twenty percent of the model or creative's compensation
• Forbid the management company from taking retaliatory action against any model or creative using the bill to file a complaint
• Forbid the management company or client from engaging in discrimination or harassment any kind against talent on the basis of race, ethnicity, and other legally permissible categories under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, as amended

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.