Relates to establishing unlawful discriminatory practices relating to models; requires models to be informed of what constitutes an unlawful discriminatory practice and how to file a complaint; requires modeling entities to provide adult models with educational materials regarding nutrition and eating disorders.
This bill creates new legal protections for models under New York’s Human Rights Law and adds a separate labor-law requirement for adult models. It defines “model,” “modeling entity,” “client,” and related terms broadly to cover agencies, brands, advertisers, photographers, publishers, retail stores, and others that receive modeling services. The bill makes it an unlawful discriminatory practice for a hiring party to subject a model to sexual harassment, harassment based on protected characteristics, or retaliation for asserting rights under the new law.
The bill also requires clients and modeling entities to post notices about the new protections, provide models with complaint contact information, and inform models in writing at the start of a contract about the complaint process. Modeling entities and clients must establish complaint procedures and provide written or electronic acknowledgment when complaints are received. The bill further treats modeling entities as employers and models as employees for certain labor-law purposes, and allows joint and several liability for sexual harassment claims involving both modeling entities and clients.
In addition, the bill adds a new labor-law section requiring modeling entities to provide adult models with educational materials about nutrition and eating disorders within 90 days of representation or engagement, whichever comes first. Those materials must include at least the components found on the National Institute of Health’s eating-disorders website or a successor site, must be provided in a language the model understands, and must be retained in records for three years.
The bill would amend the Executive Law to expressly include the new model-related discrimination provisions within the definition of “unlawful discriminatory practice,” thereby making them enforceable under New York’s anti-discrimination framework. It would also create new compliance obligations for modeling agencies, clients, and other entities that use models, while preserving any other rights models already have under state law.
The overall sentiment reflected by the bill text is protective and remedial, aiming to address harassment, retaliation, and health-related concerns in the modeling industry. No committee transcript or vote history was provided, so there is no recorded legislative debate or voting pattern to indicate support or opposition. The main likely points of contention are the breadth of the definitions, the compliance and posting requirements imposed on clients and agencies, the joint-and-several-liability provision, and the requirement that modeling entities provide nutrition and eating-disorder materials to adult models.
The bill would add a new section 296-e to the Executive Law and a new section 202-m to the Labor Law. It expands New York’s anti-discrimination law to cover models explicitly, creates new harassment and retaliation protections, and imposes notice, complaint-handling, and liability rules on modeling entities and clients. It also requires adult-model educational materials on nutrition and eating disorders, with recordkeeping obligations, thereby creating new regulatory duties for modeling agencies and their clients.
The bill appears generally supportive of model workplace protections and health education, with a clear consumer- and worker-protection orientation. Because no committee discussion or votes were provided, there is no documented opposition or support from legislators in the record supplied. Based on the text alone, the bill is framed as a response to harassment and exploitation concerns in the modeling industry.
Likely areas of contention include whether the bill’s definitions of “model,” “client,” and “modeling entity” are too broad, whether treating modeling entities as employers and models as employees for certain purposes is appropriate, and whether joint and several liability could expose agencies and clients to expanded litigation risk. Some may also question the administrative burden of required notices, complaint systems, written acknowledgments, and three-year record retention, as well as the mandate to provide nutrition and eating-disorder materials to adult models.