Actually, six modeling agencies are facing a labor law violations class action lawsuit. Here is the list of these modeling agencies: Major Model Management Inc., Elite Model Management Corp., Click Model Management Inc., MC2 Model, Wilhelmina International Ltd., as well as Talent Miami LLC and Next Management LLC. Thus, the suit accuses these modeling agencies of failing to pay their former employees for using their images repeatedly.
According to the labor law violations lawsuit, defendant modeling agencies used and reused models’ images. However, they didn’t receive money for it. In addition to that, plaintiffs point out that these modeling agencies received money for repeated use of their images from ad agencies and other companies.
Details
It’s worth mentioning that the judge made a decision of removing two modeling agencies from the labor law violations lawsuit. Here are these modeling agencies: Elite Model and Major Model. According to the judge, the accusations against these modeling agencies don’t fall within the six year statute of limitations. The reason is that it was in 2013 when models filed the initial complaint against the modeling agencies. Furthermore, he also added the claim referred to models who weren’t these modeling agencies’ employees after 2005. This means that they were outside the statute of limitations.
It is also true that other four modeling agencies are still under the labor law violations class action lawsuit. In fact, they were accrued either on or after October 24, 2007. That’s to say, this is within the statute of limitations.
Additionally, the plaintiffs state that not only they didn’t get money for their images, but also the defendant modeling agencies failed to pay their overtime and minimum wages in a proper manner. In their complaint, models also referred to unauthorized deductions made from their paychecks.
The suit alleges modeling agencies of failing to pay them money for being present at mandatory meetings. Also, according to the complaint, defendants failed to do the following: issuing wage statements, as well as paying wages on time.
The judge mentioned that according to New York labor law, it is only possible to recover wages. Further, he concluded that usage fees aren’t referred to as wages. In other words, this enabled him to throw out all the charges against two modeling agencies. In spite of this fact, the attorneys representing the plaintiffs think it’s a good move. So, this step further distinguished that the modeling agencies were ‘’employers’’ of the models who filed the labor law violations lawsuit.
