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Thread: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

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    Default Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    So anyways I got a little educated in another thread on how dancers literally get not only get a large % of their income taken away by clubs but also often have to pay for the right to dance (table dances, etc...).

    Again - I plead ignorance on this subject to a point but I do feel this is pretty accurate to state "Exotic Dancers/Strippers are entertainers and strip clubs would die without them" (not a hard statement to make). Do clubs charge musicians to play at their club? Nope - because the musicians bring in the customers .....just like exotic dancers do.

    Anyways - I'm kind of interested on what everyone thinks about the current lawsuits against clubs regarding minimum wage/tips/age discrimination. Right? Wrong?


    Strippers sue club over minimum wage law

    Similar suit against Deja Vu nightclubs in Michigan regarding minimum wage and tips


    Another one in Ohio regarding minimum wage and tips


    Los Angeles wage/tip suit


    Related Las Vegas article


    Suit against Scores over skimming tips


    44 year old dancer files age discrimination suit
    Last edited by ExoticLingerie.org; 11-27-2008 at 11:14 PM.

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    I think in many cases these lawsuits are way overdue. When I first start dancing most clubs charged a house fee, but didn't pull most of this (at least at the clubs I worked at). Believe it or not, when I first started, a couple of clubs actually paid dancers to work there. The ones that charged a house didn't tell you when you had to work, and the fee was reasonable. Maybe I was lucky, and it could be because many clubs were popping up and wanted dancers. A few years later I started hearing about clubs that told you when you could work, how much to tip, when you could eat lunch/dinner, even what you had to wear. I got hired at a few of these clubs, but walked out when they gave me a handbook of all these stupid rules. By the time I quit dancing at clubs, I stopped because of stuff like these incidents. A few years later I decided I wanted to go back, but many clubs were pulling things like this even worse.

    Another issue I hope more people sue for is the discrimination. At many clubs I worked at, the waitresses, dancers, bartenders, shot girls, etc all had to pay, while all the male jobs didn't. I've done waitressing at times (mostly not strip clubs) and never had to pay to work there, yet in many clubs I've interviewed at (strip clubs) require this. I'm not talking giving a percentage of tips to the bartender. That's common in waitress jobs I've had. I mean actually not getting a small salary and having to pay the club a house fee just like the dancers. Also, at one club I worked at one girl decided to retire and become a dj at the club. Though she had more experience than the other djs (both male), she was paid considerably less. Another club had both a male and female bartender and the male was paid a salary while the female had to pay. In any other business, this would be illegal, why do clubs keep getting away with it?

    Most of the clubs I mentioned are long gone and I suspect it's partly from all of these things.
    Last edited by Kellydancer; 11-27-2008 at 11:18 PM.

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    True, they can, and it's disgusting. I realize many dancers don't want to speak up for risk of losing their source of income or even reputation. I know myself when I worked the clubs I wasn't always keen to speak up, but I wished I had in a few instances. Not sure what you mean about getting more points.

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    I know that class action law suit that was filed in California against the Spearmint Rhino Clubs (maybe other clubs but it escapes me) totally back fired. The way the clubs were restructured ended up taking even a bigger cut of the dancers money and causing a lot of the clubs to become extra's ridden. Which is why dancing in California SUCKS so bad.

    I think the way Las Vegas runs their clubs is very fair. Dancers don't put in a schedule and pay a flat fee to work rather than giving the club a cut of every dance or VIP. However, only the topless clubs are ran like this.

    With that stupid lawsuit springing up LV I'm worried that if it actually passes it would further denigrate the industry like it did in California. Leave Las Vegas alone!! To me it's a good system.

    I understand dancers need to fight for more fair conditions, it's just that legally so far nothing has worked for their benefit and again in the case of California made things far worse.

    ETA
    Comparing SC to regular clubs and how musicians are paid to perform (rather than paying to preform) is maybe not a good comparison in most cases.

    As dancers we benefit from the clubs advertising to get customers in there. Also, at leas at my club, they know how to get the high rollers in, they time my VIP's, run CC's so I can get paid and provide music and lights so that I can perform. Musicians market their own name and advertising. No club would book a no name ban and yes the clubs may advertise that they are playing there but even then no one would come if that musicians were not already known. They don't need someone to provide music and lights to perform, they do that themselves.

    It would be really hard to make money if we were peddling lap dances on a street corner.
    Last edited by dangerousdiva; 11-29-2008 at 12:49 PM.


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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    While I do agree with dancers being entitled to every dollar of the tips they earn, I don't agree with them suing for minimum wage. If you want a paycheck with minimum wage, go work in fast food.

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    We are independent contractors. We choose where and when we want to work as long as we have the proper licenses required by law...just like a business has to have a business license. House fees back this up as well as not paying a wage. This seperates us from being employees. We are renting the facility to make our money and relying on their customer base and advertising to bring in new customers.

    Muscians being hired by a club I don't think is a good comparison. They generally do not collect tips and are hired for a few hundred per night. The band does not profit off of the custmers like we do. I think a better comparison may be a music teacher at a music store who has to pay a room rental fee plus a percentage of earnings. They are relying on the store's customer's and advertising to bring in clientelle. They are not paid wages by the music store because they are considered independent contractors.

    And if I was paid a wage for getting naked, it BETTER BE a hell of alot more than minimum wage or else that is an insult.

    Taylor

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    ^ Agreed.

    Another good comparison is hair stylists who pay rent for their stations at a salon.

    Most of the time these law suits do not have the best interest of the dancers at heart.


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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    I guess the musician/band comparison may not fit as they don't make tips as dancers do. I do understand the independent contractor status (especially being self-employed myself pretty much all my life) and agree that the minimum wage argument doesn't fly. I also understand the tipping %/fees/flat fees paid to bouncers & djs as they aid dancers in doing their job - a "reasonable" house fee may make sense but that is only to cover dj/security costs IMO. Charging extra for the right to do table dances or taking %s of tips isn't right.

    I don't think if a music teacher stops showing up (renting) at a music store that the music store will shut down. However - if dancers don't show up at strip clubs - that club is pretty likely going out of business as the dancers are the main draw. Unless of course the club becomes a regular bar.

    Dancers are what bring in the clientele/customers and without the dancers ..... no customers. A club/bar advertising the entertainment (musicians, comedians or dancers for example) should draw most of their income off drinks/food/cover charges & be thankful that the entertainment draws in the customers. We used to have a clothing store for several years and did fashion shows in bars every every once in awhile and drew in many customers for them. Of course the tips we made were off new customers that we drew into our clothing store later on. We didn't pay the bars and they didn't pay us though they did promote the fashions shows which drew in more paying customers for them.

    You gals are entertainers and not hair stylists/music teachers (except of course those dancers that actually also are hair stylists and music teachers).

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    Just as an FYI, in a lot of places, Bands DO have to pay to play - especially in the LA area. Too many people think they will be the next rock star if they are discovered....

    If a club dictates many working conditions, time to start and stop, etc., they have made you an employee per IRS rules.

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    There's a club here in Tucson that I wish something bad would happen to them.....I mean really. I wish someone would sue them or something, anything.

    They literally RAPE the dancers of their money. The fees are SO HIGH it's unreal, then they also take a cut of your dances. If you don't make enough to cover the fees, they make you OWE THE CLUB. So not only do you leave with no money but you leave in the negative. There was a girl one night who just needed to keep her last $20 for a damned cab ride and they didn't let her. She had to walk across the street and wait at the bus stop by herself until the bus started running at 5 a.m. I believe she had made around $150 and it all went to the club except her last $20

    It burns me up. I mean if the place was busy all the time and girls were taking home decent amounts of money in lieu of all the fees, then fine. But fuck, the place NEVER sees any customers. There are a handful of girls that do good but other than that, the place stays open by taking all the dancer's earnings. I hate the fact that girls will still go there and work and put up with it! I wish alot of those girls would wisen up and go to another club, or boycott the mutherfuckin' place! If no dancers showed up to work, then they'd be forced to shut down.

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    Default Re: Strippers lawsuits against clubs

    hairstylists often have the choice to hustle customers or work for a fixed hourly, actually. at least, that's my experience of how it works in multiple states (calif, hi, tx, wa). they don't all necessarily pay 'rent' for a chair-- some do work as employees by their own choice alongside those working as independent contractors.

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