S-3717.1_______________________________________________


SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 6263

_______________________________________________


State of Washington 57th Legislature2002 Regular Session


By Senate Committee on Labor, Commerce & Financial Institutions (originally sponsored by Senators Prentice, Kohl-Welles, Keiser and Gardner)


READ FIRST TIME 02/04/2002.

AN ACT Relating to contracts for modeling and theatrical agencies; amending RCW 19.31.020; and adding a new chapter to Title 19 RCW.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

 

Sec. 1. RCW 19.31.020 and 1998 c 228 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

((Unless a different meaning is clearly required by the context, the following words and phrases, as hereinafter used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings:))

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Employment agency" is synonymous with "agency" and ((shall)) means any business in which any part of the business gross or net income is derived from a fee received from applicants, and in which any of the following activities are engaged in:

(a) The offering, promising, procuring, or attempting to procure employment for applicants;

(b) The giving of information regarding where and from whom employment may be obtained; or

(c) The sale of a list of jobs or a list of names of persons or companies accepting applications for specific positions, in any form.

In addition, the term "employment agency" ((shall)) means and includes any person, bureau, employment listing service, employment directory, organization, or school which for profit, by advertisement or otherwise, offers, as one of its main objects or purposes, to procure employment for any person who pays for its services, or which collects tuition, or charges for service of any nature, where the main object of the person paying the same is to secure employment. It also includes any business that provides a resume to an individual and provides that person with a list of names to whom the resume may be sent or provides that person with preaddressed envelopes to be mailed by the individual or by the business itself, if the list of names or the preaddressed envelopes have been compiled and are represented by the business as having job openings. The term "employment agency" ((shall)) does not include labor union organizations, temporary service contractors, proprietary schools operating within the scope of activities for which the school is licensed under chapter 28C.10 RCW, nonprofit schools and colleges, career guidance and counseling services, employment directories that are sold in a manner that allows the applicant to examine the directory before purchase, theatrical agencies, modeling agencies, farm labor contractors, or the Washington state employment agency.

(2) "Temporary service contractors" ((shall)) means any person, firm, association, or corporation conducting a business which consists of employing individuals directly for the purpose of furnishing such individuals on a part time or temporary help basis to others.

(3) "Modeling agency" means a person, firm, association, or corporation engaged in the business of conducting an agency, bureau, office, or other place for the purpose of procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to provide engagements for persons who want to procure employment as models, or giving information as to where these engagements may be procured or provided.

(4) "Theatrical agency" means ((any person who, for a fee or commission, procures on behalf of an individual or individuals, employment or engagements for circus, vaudeville, the variety field, the legitimate theater, motion pictures, radio, television, phonograph recordings, transcriptions, opera, concert, ballet, modeling, or other entertainments, exhibitions, or performances. The term "theatrical agency" does not include any person charging an applicant a fee prior to or in advance of:

(a) Procuring employment for the applicant;

(b) Giving or providing the applicant information regarding where or from whom employment may be obtained;

(c) Allowing or requiring the applicant to participate in any instructional class, audition, or career guidance or counseling; or

(d) Allowing the applicant to be eligible for employment through the person.

(4))) a person, firm, association, or corporation conducting an agency, bureau, office, or other place for the purpose of procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to provide engagements for persons who want employment in the following occupations: Circus, theater, motion pictures, radio, television, studio recordings, transcriptions, opera, concert, ballet, or other entertainments, exhibitions, or performances; or of giving information as to where these engagements may be procured or provided.

(5) "Farm labor contractor" means any person, or his or her agent, who, for a fee, employs workers to render personal services in connection with the production of any farm products, to, for, or under the direction of an employer engaged in the growing, producing, or harvesting of farm products, or who recruits, solicits, supplies, or hires workers on behalf of an employer engaged in the growing, producing, or harvesting of farm products or who provides in connection with recruiting, soliciting, supplying, or hiring workers engaged in the growing, producing, or harvesting of farm products, one or more of the following services: Furnishes board, lodging, or transportation for such workers, supervises, times, checks, counts, sizes, or otherwise directs or measures their work; or disburses wage payments to such persons.

(((5))) (6) "Employer" means any person, firm, corporation, partnership, or association employing or seeking to enter into an arrangement to employ a person through the medium or service of an employment agency.

(((6))) (7) "Applicant", except when used to describe an applicant for an employment agency license, means any person, whether employed or unemployed, seeking or entering into any arrangement for his or her employment or change of his or her employment through the medium or service of an employment agency.

(((7))) (8) "Person" includes any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, company, society, manager, contractor, subcontractor, bureau, agency, service, office, or an agent or employee of any of the foregoing.

(((8))) (9) "Director" ((shall)) means the director of licensing.

(((9))) (10) "Resume" means a document of the applicant's employment history that is approved, received, and paid for by the applicant.

(((10))) (11) "Fee" means anything of value. The term includes money or other valuable consideration or services or the promise of money or other valuable consideration or services, received directly or indirectly by an employment agency from a person seeking employment, in payment for the service.

(((11))) (12) "Employment listing service" means any business operated by any person that provides in any form, including written or verbal, lists of specified positions of employment available with any employer other than itself or that holds itself out to applicants as able to provide information about specific positions of employment available with any employer other than itself, and that charges a fee to the applicant for its services and does not set up interviews or otherwise intercede between employer and applicant.

(((12))) (13) "Employment directory" means any business operated by any person that provides in any form, including written or verbal, lists of employers, does not provide lists of specified positions of employment, that holds itself out to applicants as able to provide information on employment in specific industries or geographical areas, and that charges a fee to the applicant for its services.

(((13))) (14) "Career guidance and counseling service" means any person, firm, association, or corporation conducting a business that engages in any of the following activities:

(a) Career assessment, planning, or testing through individual counseling or group seminars, classes, or workshops;

(b) Skills analysis, resume writing, and preparation through individual counseling or group seminars, classes, or workshops;

(c) Training in job search or interviewing skills through individual counseling or group seminars, classes, or workshops: PROVIDED, That the career guidance and counseling service does not engage in any of the following activities:

(i) Contacts employers on behalf of an applicant or in any way intercedes between employer and applicant;

(ii) Provides information on specific job openings;

(iii) Holds itself out as able to provide referrals to specific companies or individuals who have specific job openings.

 

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. (1) "Modeling agency" means a person, firm, association, or corporation engaged in the business of conducting an agency, bureau, office, or other place for the purpose of procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to provide engagements for persons who want to procure employment as models, or giving information as to where these engagements may be procured or provided.

(2) "Theatrical agency" means a person, firm, association, or corporation conducting an agency, bureau, office, or other place for the purpose of procuring, offering, promising, or attempting to provide engagements for persons who want employment in the following occupations: Circus, theater, motion pictures, radio, television, studio recordings, transcriptions, opera, concert, ballet, or other entertainments, exhibitions, or performances; or of giving information as to where these engagements may be procured or provided.

 

NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. If a modeling or theatrical agency charges a fee for a service, the agency must, before the service is provided to an applicant, provide each applicant with a written contract specifying all fees charged to the applicant. The contract must contain the following:

(1) The name, address, and telephone number of the agency;

(2) The date of the contract;

(3) The name of the applicant;

(4) The amount of the fee to be charged the applicant, the method of computation of the fee, and the time and method of payments; and

(5) A notice in eight-point bold face type or larger directly above the space reserved in the contract for the signature of the buyer. The caption "NOTICE TO APPLICANT--READ BEFORE SIGNING" must precede the body of the notice and must be in ten-point bold face type or larger. The notice must read as follows:

 

"This is a contract. If you accept the services provided by this agency, you will be liable for the payment of the fee as set out above. Do not sign this contract before you read it or if any spaces intended for the agreed terms are left blank. You must be given a copy of this contract at the time you sign it."

 

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) A contract for the sale of services from a modeling or theatrical agency may be canceled at the option of the purchaser if the purchaser sends notice of the cancellation by certified mail, return receipt requested, to the modeling or theatrical agency at the address contained in the contract and if the notice is postmarked not later than midnight of the seventh calendar day following the day on which the contract is signed. In addition to this cancellation right, a purchaser who signs a contract for the sale of services of any description from a modeling or theatrical agency without having received the written disclosures required in subsection (2) of this section has cancellation rights until seven calendar days after the receipt of the written disclosures. A purchaser must request cancellation of a contract by sending the notice of cancellation by certified mail, return receipt requested, postmarked not later than midnight of the seventh calendar day following the day on which the contract is signed to the modeling or theatrical agency at the address contained in the contract. The purchaser may use the cancellation form prescribed in subsection (2) of this section, however, notice of cancellation is sufficient if it indicates the intention of the purchaser not to be bound by the contract. The purchaser's right of cancellation of a contract for the sale may not be waived.

(2) A contract for the sale of services from a modeling or theatrical agency must include the following statement in at least ten-point bold-face type immediately before the space for the purchaser's signature:

 

"Purchaser's right to cancel: You may cancel this contract without any cancellation fee or other penalty, or stated reason for doing so, by sending notice of cancellation by certified mail, return receipt requested, to . . . . . . . (insert name of agency at the address indicated below). The notice must be postmarked by midnight of the seventh calendar day following the day on which this contract is signed by you. The day on which the contract was signed is not included as a "calendar day," and if the seventh calendar day falls on a Sunday or legal holiday, then the right to cancel this contract expires on the day immediately following that Sunday or legal holiday.

 

TO CANCEL THIS CONTRACT, SEND A COPY OF THIS NOTICE OF CANCELLATION OR OTHER WRITTEN NOTICE OF CANCELLATION TO:

 

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .

(Name of Theatrical or Modeling Agency)

 

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .

(Address of Theatrical or Modeling Agency)

 

(Date)

 

I HEREBY CANCEL THIS CONTRACT

 

(Date)

 

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .

(Purchaser's Signature)

 

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .

(Printed Name)

 

. . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . .

(Purchaser's Address)"

 

(3) Within seven calendar days following timely receipt of notice of cancellation from the purchaser, the modeling or theatrical agency must provide evidence that the contract has been canceled and return any money or other consideration paid by the purchaser. However, the modeling or theatrical agency may retain payments made for specific services utilized by the purchaser.

 

NEW SECTION. Sec. 5. In any action arising out of this chapter, the prevailing party is entitled to reasonable attorneys' fees and costs.

 

NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 2 through 5 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 19 RCW.

 

--- END ---