A monthly agency statement is not a bill. It is a reconciliation — the agency’s summary of what a client paid, what the agency took, what it advanced on your behalf, and what it says it still owes you. Read in isolation, a statement invites you to accept a net figure you cannot trace to any booking. Read against the underlying paper, it becomes an auditable record with specific, disputable lines.
This guide is about reading the statement against the paper trail and putting a dispute in writing. It is not a finding that any line on your statement is unlawful. Whether a given deduction is legal depends on your contract, your classification, and the law that governs the relationship — questions a written dispute is designed to force into the open.
Read the statement against three other documents
Before you look at a single number on the statement, assemble the paper it should reconcile to:
- The deal memo or booking confirmation. In New York, a covered model management company must give you a written or digital deal memo before work begins stating your total compensation and payment term, among other content. New York State Department of Labor, Responsibilities of Fashion Management and Clients.
- The final booking agreement the agency negotiated with the client. In New York, the company must provide it within seven days of the end of the booking, in the language you requested. Id. This is the document that shows the gross the client agreed to pay and what that gross was stated to include.
- Your signed representation agreement — specifically the commission clause and every expense clause.
- Any written expense approval you gave. If you never gave one, that absence is itself a line item.
Log the date you received each document. Timing is a line item. A statement that is arithmetically correct but arrives after the payment term in your deal memo still generates a dispute, and the date of receipt belongs in your record next to the amount.
Anatomy of a statement line
A well-built statement lets you trace each booking from gross to net through separate, labeled steps. Watch for these components, and watch for any of them being netted silently into a single figure:
- Gross booking fee — what the client paid or agreed to pay.
- Agency commission — the percentage taken from your side.
- Client-side service charge, if any — a separate charge to the client, which should not be confused with commission taken from you.
- Expense deductions — each one should be itemized, with the computation shown.
- Advances to be repaid — money the agency paid upfront that it expects to recover from your compensation.
- Taxes or withholding — if any.
- Net remittance — what actually reaches you, and when.
If a statement shows only a gross and a net, you cannot audit it. Ask for the intermediate lines in writing.
New York: the reference points for what should be on the page
The New York Fashion Workers Act took effect in stages: substantive duties and prohibitions since June 19, 2025, and registration requirements since December 21, 2025. Coverage is fact-specific — not every agreement involving a New York model or a New York job is automatically governed — so confirm the Act’s application to your relationship rather than assuming it. The Department of Labor’s summary of the duties gives you concrete benchmarks to check a statement against:
- Commission cap. A covered model management company may not charge a commission fee greater than 20 percent of a model’s total pay. NY DOL. Check the percentage against the base it is applied to, not just the percentage itself.
- No undocumented deductions. A company may not deduct money from your paycheck for a fee or expense, including interest, that was not agreed to in your contract or in writing through an itemized list of how each expense charge was determined. Id. If a line has no contract clause and no itemized written explanation behind it, that is a dispute.
- Written approval before advances. Before making upfront payments for charges you will be expected to repay out of your final compensation, the company must get your written approval after providing an itemized recitation of how each item is computed. Id. The leverage point is before the money moves. Once an advance appears as a deduction, you are arguing about a decision already made.
- Travel and visa costs. A company may not pay travel or visa-related costs in advance expecting you to reimburse them later without your prior written approval. Id.
- Deal memo contents. The deal memo must state your total compensation and payment term. Id. If the statement’s remittance date falls outside that term, note it.
These are the rules a covered company is held to. They are also, practically, the checklist for reading the page: for every deduction, ask which contract clause or itemized written approval authorizes it, and for every commission line, ask what base the percentage was applied to.
California: licensing, registration fees, and the double-dip
California regulates who may procure modeling work through the Talent Agencies Act, and the Labor Commissioner has jurisdiction over controversies between an artist and a talent agency relating to the terms of the contract. Two determinations and one FAQ are worth knowing before you write a dispute letter.
Registration fees and photo charges. In Edison v. Body Parts Models, Inc. (Cal. Lab. Comm’r, TAC-52754, Mar. 15, 2021), the Labor Commissioner found the agency violated Labor Code sections 1700.40(a) and (b) by referring the model to a photography business the agency owned and collecting for those photographs. The order required the agency to pay $1,132.50 for an illegal registration fee, $490.00 in illegal commissions withheld, and $236.04 in interest — $1,858.54 total. Determination of Controversy, TAC-52754. If your statement carries a photo, zed-card, or registration charge, that determination is the paper to read.
The “plus 20%” trap. The same determination is the worked example of double collection. The client’s contract stated that the agent’s 20% commission was included in the gross pay. The agency nonetheless took $200 total as commission on a $600 gross. The Commissioner held the agency “double dipped” and owed the model $100. Id. The dispute turned entirely on what the client contract said the gross included — which is why you request the final booking agreement early, not after the statement arrives.
Deductions from wages. The Labor Commissioner’s office states that an employer may lawfully withhold amounts from an employee’s wages only when required or empowered by state or federal law, when a deduction is expressly authorized in writing by the employee for specified categories, or when authorized by a wage or collective bargaining agreement for health, welfare, or pension contributions. California DLSE, Deductions FAQ. The same FAQ notes that if an employer requires a photograph of an applicant or employee, the employer must pay the cost. Id. One caveat: this FAQ addresses employee wages. Whether a model is an employee or an independent contractor is a separate, fact-specific question — which is why your dispute letter should ask the agency to state its classification position in writing rather than assume one.
Timing of disbursement. A California-licensed talent agency that receives funds on behalf of an artist generally must place those funds in a trust account and disburse the balance, less commission, within 30 days after receipt, subject to limited statutory exceptions. Fashionentlaw.com, Fashion Modeling Contracts, Commissions, and Agency Terms. If the statement shows a remittance date more than 30 days after the client paid, that gap is a line item.
What the court filings show about statement problems
The Burgess v. Major Model Management complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, is an unadjudicated set of allegations — not findings. It is useful as a catalog of the kinds of statement problems that get litigated. The complaint alleges the agency deducted commissions at 20%, which it characterizes as twice the 10% limit it attributes to General Business Law § 185 for employment-agency deductions from workers. Second Amended Class and Collective Action Complaint, No. 1:20-cv-02816 (S.D.N.Y.). It also alleges the agency failed to provide written wage statements required by New York Labor Law § 195(3), including for payments on or about May 11, 2017 and September 29, 2017. Id. Treat the dollar figures in that complaint as allegations, not established facts. The structural point stands: commission rate, the base it is applied to, and the existence of a written statement are the recurring battlegrounds.
Keep your own ledger
The agency’s statement is the other side’s summary, not a neutral record. Keep a parallel ledger per booking with these columns:
- Booking name and dates
- Voucher or client contract gross
- What the client contract said the gross included (commission? plus 20%?)
- Commission rate applied and the base
- Expenses approved in writing, with the date of approval
- Date the client paid, if known
- Date the agency remitted
- Net received
When the statement arrives, reconcile line by line. Every mismatch is a candidate for the dispute letter. Every line you cannot trace is a request for documentation.
Drafting the written dispute
The most effective dispute letter is boring. It quotes the booking paper, quotes the statement line, names the clause or written approval relied on, states the arithmetic, and asks for a specific correction by a specific date. Emotional framing weakens an otherwise strong paper record.
Use this format, one block per disputed line:
Booking: [client, job number, dates]
Voucher / client contract amount: $[X], which stated [commission included / plus 20% / other]
Statement line: [description], $[Y]
Authority relied on: [contract clause / written expense approval dated ___ / deal memo payment term / statutory provision]
Amount in dispute: $[Z]
Correction requested: [reissue statement / remit $Z / provide itemized computation]
Response requested by: [date — set a reasonable deadline, e.g., 14 days]
Send it in writing, keep a dated copy, and send it to a named person. If the agency does not respond or refuses the correction, the letter and the response (or silence) become part of the record for the next step.
Escalation paths
Name the forum before you need it, so the letter is written for the audience that will read it later:
- New York: complaints under the Fashion Workers Act go to the New York State Department of Labor. Confirm the current complaint procedure and any limitations period on the Department’s site before filing.
- California: controversies between an artist and a talent agency relating to the terms of the contract go to the Labor Commissioner. Confirm the current form and filing requirements with the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement before filing.
Deadlines and remedies differ by forum and by the model’s classification. Do not assume one state’s procedure applies in the other. The dispute letter should be written so that it works as evidence in either forum: dated, specific, arithmetic shown, documents cited.
For parents who co-sign
Ask for the itemized expense recitation in writing before any advance is paid, not after it appears as a deduction. The written approval is the leverage point, and it disappears once the money has moved. If the agency cannot or will not itemize a charge before paying it, that is the moment to question the charge — not the month after, when it is already netted against your child’s earnings.
Frequently asked questions
My statement shows only a gross and a net. Is that enough?
No. You cannot audit a net figure. Request the intermediate lines — commission, each expense, each advance — in writing, with the computation shown for each.
The commission percentage looks right. Is there still something to check?
Yes: the base. A 20% commission applied to a gross that already included the commission is a different number than 20% applied to the model’s share. The Edison determination turned on exactly this distinction.
What if the statement is correct but late?
Timing is a line item. If the remittance date falls outside the payment term in your deal memo, or outside the 30-day disbursement expectation for a California-licensed agency, note it in the dispute letter alongside the amount.
Should I dispute every line I don’t recognize?
Dispute every line you cannot trace to a contract clause or a written approval. That is a documentation request as much as a dispute, and it is the cleanest way to build the record.
What if I’m not sure whether I’m an employee or an independent contractor?
Ask the agency to state its classification position in writing. The answer shapes which regulator and which rules apply, and you should not assume a classification the agency has not committed to on paper.