Elizabeth Cooper was quoted in a Bloomberg Law article about models in the fashion industry facing sexual harassment.
As independent contractors, models’ options to redress improper workplace behavior are limited. Without protection from federal or state anti-discrimination laws, models could bring a civil suit for the tort of assault, or they could file a police report and seek criminal prosecution, Professor Elizabeth Cooper of Fordham University School of Law told Bloomberg Law.
But even then, the question remains of who to sue.
A model’s legal relationship is with their modeling agency, Cooper explained. The modeling agency then works with outside clients to select models for projects. As a result, the relationship between a model and the client is amorphous, often not even written down.
“And if they get assaulted or harassed by someone who isn’t even an employee of the client, then the question becomes ‘who is responsible?’” Cooper said. “Can they sue the modeling agency? Are they supposed to sue the client, with whom they don’t have a legal relationship? Or are they stuck suing the individual?”
Cooper said the legal distinction between an independent contractor and an employee can distort the larger issue of sexual harassment in the workplace. Regardless of your employment status, “the law has to be updated to recognize that this bad behavior shouldn’t be permitted.”