Recently, Stand-In Central covered the new New York City law awaiting signing by mayor Eric Adams banning discrimination based on height and weight in employment.

The matter was of interest from the perspective of TV/film stand-ins, because in their hiring, many casting directors inquire about candidates’ heights and sometimes weights.

The Signing

On May 26th, Mayor Adams signed the bill into law. The text of the measure can be found here, along with its history. This YouTube video shows the bill signing:

Exemptions

Mayor Adams mentions the exemptions that businesses may have. That may be when an individual’s height or weight may prevent them from doing the job.

When it comes to TV/film stand-ins, it’s not clear from a legal perspective whether inquiring about or discriminating based on height and weight in hiring stand-ins would be legal or illegal. When it comes to stand-in work, not all work factually requires certain heights and weights. Height and weight matches may be necessary on some jobs but not all jobs. So it will be interesting if there will need to be a job-by-job demonstration of a height or weight requirement, or whether there will spring a categorical exemption with respect to TV/film stand-ins.

Effective Date

The new law will go into effect on November 22, 2023.

Do you work as a stand-in in New York City? Do you believe this new city law will have any effect on hiring TV/film stand-ins? Will you be doing anything to try to influence how the law is applied to TV/film stand-ins? Post your ideas in the comments below!