The city of New York has reached an agreement with L’Officiel USA, the American outpost of the French luxury media brand, which the city sued in November 2021 over the company’s failure to pay freelancers. L’Officiel agreed to pay more than $275,000 to 41 freelancers.
The settlement was announced Friday by Mayor Eric Adams, New York City corporation counsel Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix and New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection commissioner Vilda Vera Mayuga.
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The suit was the first action taken under FIFA (the city’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act), which is meant to combat slipshod by companies of freelance and contract workers, who often are not afforded the same protections as full-time employees.
“New York City will always support workers’ rights, especially for our freelancers who often don’t have access to as many benefits as full-time employees,” Adams said in a statement. “We will not tolerate companies that fail to pay freelance workers what they’re owed. Under this agreement, we will ensure the 41 freelancers who worked for L’Officiel get the money to which they’re entitled and ensure these violations do not happen again. Let this serve as a lesson: If you try to take freelance workers for a ride, we will hold you accountable. I urge any freelancer not properly paid by L’Officiel for their work to file a claim as quickly as possible.”
FIFA, codified during the former mayoral administration of Bill de Blasio and the first law of its kind in the country, gives freelance workers the right to a written contract, timely payment and freedom from retaliation. The law established a court navigation program as one avenue to assist freelancers in getting paid and accessing resources. It also authorizes the city to file cases against any person or business that shows a pattern or practice of violating the law.
The city said that it received more than 40 complaints from freelancers who performed work for L’Officiel — including writers, editors, photographers, videographers, graphic designers and illustrators — about the company’s failure to pay them on time, in full, or at all. L’Officiel, said the city, also failed to provide the freelancers with a written contract, and retaliated against them for exercising their rights under the law. On several occasions, L’Officiel even sent freelancers tax forms reporting income when the company had never paid them, according to the city.
Freelancers who were not fully paid by L’Officiel for work performed between Jan. 1, 2017, and July 11, 2023, and were not specifically named in the suit, must file a claim by Feb. 7, 2024, in order to participate in the settlement. Freelancers named in the agreement do not need to file a claim and will receive an email with information explaining how to receive payment.
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