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The New York Fashion Worker Law, which will come into effect on June 19, 2025, has introduced a major change in the model management company (MMCS) and its client’s fashion industry. This law aims to strengthen model protection and increase the transparency and fairness of working conditions.
Migerlopes, a lithamenderson shareholder and employment expert, shared her insights on Tomson Reuters’ checkpoints and insights on the same law a few weeks before the start of New York Fashion Week 2025 on February 13. Managing accidental labor and independent contractors emphasized the importance of early preparation for compliance among other topics.
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MMC’s main requirements
Under the new law, MMC must be registered with the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Labor. This registration is essential unless the company has a limited eligible qualification by not maintaining an office in another state, maintaining offices in New York or recruiting clients.
“But it’s not clear whether other states have the same regulatory standards today,” Lopez said. “There are several states that generally regulate talented organizations, such as California, Florida, and Texas,” pointed out.
MMC needs to correct the contract with the model
“For example, a contract is not a condition of more than three years, it is not possible to impose a fee exceeding 20 % of the model reward, and it is necessary to pay in advance for all items that are going to be deducted from the compensation of the model,” Lopez says. I am. 。
In addition, MMC needs to provide a copy of the client contract to at least 24 hours before the modeling engagement and disclose economic relationships with clients.
This law obliges MMC to protect the model health and safety, but the details of this requirement are not clearly defined. Potential measures include requiring clients to provide clients that all representatives in the set have been properly trained.
“As time goes on, the industry may recruit practices that have gained traction for many years, such as maintaining exercise coordinators in production sets,” Lopez said.
Protect the rights of the model
This law enhances the rights of the model in several fields, such as contract conditions, wage protection, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI). The model needs to pay overtime for more than 8 hours of engagement in 24 hours. This law also allows models to control the use of AI and reproduce portraits, but it has not yet been seen how this will be implemented.
“If the portrait of the model is published by a client engaged in services, it may be used by a third party who is not known to MMCS or clients,” Lopez estimated.
Responsibility for clients and liabilities
Clients such as retailers, designers, and photographers are specifically responsible under the law. They need to be compensated for overtime fees to extend their working hours and guarantee that they protect health and safety. Client also needs to obtain writing consent from models related to the creation and use of digital replicas.
Legal sense
This law introduces private rights against MMC and enables models to complain of violations. The client is excluded from this provision, in addition to the legal discussion on administrative execution measures.
“Interestingly, this seems to be an intentional change because the previous version of the law proposed in the previous legislative conference has created personal rights for both MMC and clients,” Lopez. I said. “Nevertheless, MMC and clients need to be aware that in a specific case, it may be aware that joint employment theory may be applied, according to the facts during play,” he warns.
Preparation for compliance
As the law was implemented, Lopez emphasized that MMC and their clients should start preparing right away. “The necessary changes will be a heavy lift,” he acknowledged.
MMC needs to fix contracts, policies, and handbooks in cooperation with HR, salary, finance, and client trips teams. The client needs to recognize the law -based obligations and confirm that the contract with MMC is compliant.
“MMC needs to fix template contracts, policies, and handbooks. These are not only paper changes but also operational changes, so various functions (salary, salary, and client recruitment teams (salary)) We need to do so in cooperation with finance and client -related teams). He added that the model should be notified in advance to prevent confusion and implementation problems.
MMCS clients need to recognize both their duty and the additional responsibilities that the law imposes on the MMC. “For example, they should recognize the requirements of the law that the contract with MMC on modeling services and the client will be disclosed in other financial relationships that may have MMC,” Lopez says. I did it.
