Published
Tue, Nov 13, 2018, 16:15
- The American lawyers aim to end discrimination and abuse with incremental changes in law.
A group of American music business attorneys have called on the industry to take action to end harassment and abuse in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Monika Tashman, Dina LaPolt, Debbie White and Jessie Winkler outline their vision in an op-ed for Billboard. "It is time to change the rules, not just by raising our voices in a chorus of condemnation, but by taking concrete action." As #WeTogether, they ask fellow attorneys to start putting anti-harassment language into all service agreements, where it is already standard for business parties to outline expectations such as not to lie and act in good faith. A promise for good behavior, they argue, should also be in the agreement itself. While the attorneys acknowledge this as an unusual addition to contract negotiation, they also cite the "countless clauses, business customs and protocols that are only standard practice today because good lawyers fought tooth and nail for them."
For example, New York and California have both passed sweeping anti-harassment and anti-sexual discrimination legislation. Most prominently, it "mandates anti-sexual harassment training for companies big and small, essentially outlaws obstruction and concealment of claims and expands the scope of employers' liability and requirements for action." The attorneys view this as the minimum standard for music industry policy.
They've also recommended a series of internal practices to combat bias and discrimination. These range from ways to improve workplace culture, to legal measures such as making harassment an express exception to NDAs and arbitration provisions.
Last year, the Association For Electronic Music set up a hotline in the UK in order to combat sexual harassment in the industry.