A L’Oréal model who has appeared in Elle and Essence magazines wants to join the ranks of burger-flippers and parking-lot attendants — and earn a minimum wage along with her contract fees.
Nekesah McCary of Harlem says in a Manhattan lawsuit that since she was forced to sign an exclusive contract while working with Direct Model Management, she is legally their “employee” rather than a contract worker.
She says that means she deserves a minimum wage, overtime and employment benefits.
“Although modeling is often seen as a glamorous career in NYC, it is often quite the opposite,” her lawyer, Michael Steger, gripes in the suit.
McCary, 33, claims in her suit that Direct stiffed her out of several thousand dollars over a 2009 L’Oreal hair-color product ad.
Direct received $21,600 from L’Oreal for McCary’s work in the ad but paid the model only $10,000 — even though the agency was only supposed to take a 20 percent cut, she says.
She is seeking at least $30,000 in back wages.
Direct did not return messages seeking comment.