Effective June 19, 2025, the Fashion Workers Act will require model management companies to register their business within one year of the effective date, i.e., June 19, 2026. The Fashion Workers Act will also impose several duties and responsibilities on both model management companies and clients related to working with models in New York. As detailed herein, the Fashion Workers Act is aimed at providing greater protections for fashion workers and introduces regulations aimed at implementing labor protections for models and creatives.
Such duties and responsibilities include: (1) a fiduciary duty to the models that the model management company represents, (2) conducting due diligence to ensure that any employment or engagement “does not pose an unreasonable risk of danger to the model,” (3) using “best efforts to procure employment” for models signed to the model management company, (4) providing models with copies of the “final agreements” that the model management company has negotiated with clients and “any deal memos memorializing such agreements” at least 24 hours before the start of the model’s services, (5) clearly specifying the items that will be paid for initially by the company but that will ultimately be deducted from the model’s compensation, (6) disclosing any financial relationship that may exist between the model management company and the client, (7) notifying former models if the company collects royalties due to a model whom the company no longer represents, (8) obtaining “clear written consent for the creation or use of a model’s digital replica, detailing the scope, purpose, rate of pay, and duration of such use,” which must be separately obtained from the representation agreement, and (9) posting a physical copy of the company’s certificate of registration in their office, posting a digital copy on the company’s website, and including “the registration number of the [company] in any advertisement, including social media profiles for the [company], for the purpose of solicitation of models . . . and in any contract with a model or client.”
The Fashion Workers Act also outlines a number of prohibitions placed on model management companies, including, among other things, that a model management company cannot “require or collect any fee or deposit from a model” at the time of signing or as a condition to entering into any agreement, and cannot require a model to sign a model management company contract that contains a term greater than three years or renews without the model’s affirmative written consent. Any power of attorney agreement between a model management company and a model must also be optional and “subject to termination by the model at any time and for any reason.”
Clients will also have duties under the Fashion Workers Act, including, among other things, the requirement that they compensate models at an hourly rate at least 50% higher than their contracted rate for anything that exceeds eight hours in a 24-hour period, provide a 30-minute meal break for any employment that exceeds eight hours in any 24-hour period, ensure that any employment that requires nudity or sexually explicit material complies with the requirements set out in Section 52(c)(3) of the Civil Rights Law, “provide adequate levels of liability insurance,” and “obtain clear and conspicuous prior written consent for any creation or use of a model’s digital replica, detailing the scope, purpose, rate of pay, and duration of such use.”
The relevant definitions relating to the Fashion Workers Act include the following:
- A “model management company” is defined as any person or entity in New York that “(a) is in the business of managing models participating in entertainments, exhibitions or performances; (b) procures or attempts to procure, for a fee, employment or engagements [for] models; or (c) renders vocational guidance or counseling services to models for a fee.”
- A “model” is defined as “an individual, regardless of the individual’s status as an independent contractor or employee, who performs modeling services for a client and/or model management company or who provides showroom, parts, or fit modeling services.”
- “Client” is defined as “a retail store, a manufacturer, a clothing designer, an advertising agency, a photographer, a publishing company or any other such person or entity that receives modeling services from a model, directly or through intermediaries.”
Model management companies with five or less employees must pay a $500 registration fee, and those with more than five employees must pay a $700 registration fee. Registration must be renewed every two years. The only exemptions to this are for those model management companies (1) domiciled outside the state, (2) registered in another state with the same, or greater, requirements than the Act, and (3) that do not maintain an office in New York or solicit clients in New York.
Enforcement of the Act will be conducted by the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL). Model management companies should be on the lookout for further guidance from the NYSDOL as to the required forms necessary to meet the registration requirements and other relevant guidance relating to the significant compliance burdens. In the meantime, management companies and fashion businesses operating in New York should review existing policies and practices with an eye towards payment and overtime, and should aim to establish comprehensive policies and training programs focused on workers’ rights, financial transparency and anti-harassment, as the legislation may require significant adjustments to current practices.