Results 1 to 10 of 10

Thread: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

  1. #1
    Member Gi$elle's Avatar
    Joined
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Over The Rainbow
    Posts
    17
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    Ive been working at a club for a fairly short period of time and have been informed that the dancers will now be employees (however our checks will be for $0), and that the club is currently being sued by a dancer (we are permitted to join the suit). Im not sure about what exactly this all means. If anyone has experience with this situation I would greatly appreciate some input. Thanx

  2. #2
    God/dess Kylea2's Avatar
    Joined
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Denver & San Fran
    Posts
    6,907
    Thanks
    181
    Thanked 2,002 Times in 1,285 Posts

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    Didn't the club provide you any information about the lawsuit? You might want to file a second suit - or else inform them that they have to pay you at least minimum wage!
    Don't you ever sleep?
    Not at night...that's when the stars have rather better things to do. They're coming out, shining, that sort of thing.
    - Blog -
    My PM box fills up quick. If you have a question please with your username.
    Congrats to Pryce on doing some much needed tending in his garden!
    - -


  3. #3
    Veteran Member loren's Avatar
    Joined
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    312
    Thanks
    145
    Thanked 154 Times in 59 Posts

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    Do you still have to pay a house fee? They will probably settle out of court anyways so I doubt if the lawsuit will make much of a difference.

    What it probably means is that you will have to fill out a different type of tax form. Melonie would know more about this. She has very good technical knowledge.
    Confidence


    Self Esteem


    Arrogance is to deny reality


    Coherency management


    Maslow - Human Needs

  4. #4
    Banned
    Joined
    Jun 2010
    Posts
    74
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    I think you must inform the club about that.,.,cause I think it has additional wages ..thanks

  5. #5
    God/dess Zofia's Avatar
    Joined
    Apr 2002
    Location
    Durham, North Carolina
    Posts
    2,417
    Thanks
    2,964
    Thanked 2,372 Times in 935 Posts

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by Gi$elle View Post
    Ive been working at a club for a fairly short period of time and have been informed that the dancers will now be employees (however our checks will be for $0),
    If they do that, they will hand you another wage and hour act violation. More likely you will be a tipped employee. The minimum cash wage will vary by state, but can be no lower than $2.13/hour. The employer may count tips to bring your minimum up to $7.25/hour. (These are federal minimums, your state may set higher amounts, not lower.) If your tips do not amount to enough to bring you up to $7.25/hour, the employer must make up the difference. Also, federal and state hour laws will apply. Further, house fees and tipouts will be prohibited. You will also have to be covered by workers compensation and unemployment compensation. (In Indiana you are already covered by WC regardless of your employer's designation of status.)

    However, all is not perfect with being a tipped employee. You do lose some freedom, expect quotas on dances and drinks. Further, under federal law and some state laws (most) tip pooling is legal. Leighton v. Old Heidelberg, Ltd. (1990) 219 Cal.App.3d 1062. Thus, an employer can use your tips to bring your wage up to the federal or state minimum and above that can pool the tips to pay other employees, so long as the allocation is "fair and equitable." However, the employer may not take your tips for other reasons. Depending on the club, you may be the biggest money maker, thus, you will have to carry the rest of the staff.

    HTH
    Z
    Last edited by Zofia; 06-11-2010 at 08:01 AM.

  6. #6
    Member
    Joined
    Jan 2010
    Posts
    16
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    Lol! As soon as I read the title of this post, I knew it was from someone at Centerfolds! It's cool to see another CF girl posting here, I wonder if we've worked together before?

  7. #7
    Member Gi$elle's Avatar
    Joined
    Feb 2009
    Location
    Over The Rainbow
    Posts
    17
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    Quote Originally Posted by serenityx View Post
    Lol! As soon as I read the title of this post, I knew it was from someone at Centerfolds! It's cool to see another CF girl posting here, I wonder if we've worked together before?
    Haha! Small world. I've not been working there for too long but we may have. Which nights do you work?

  8. #8
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    Agreed that by one means or another any club that treats dancers as actual 'employees' is going to have to directly pay them at least $2.13 an hour tipped minimum wage. Also, at the end of the year, the club is going to have to report those payments to the IRS via a dancer W2 form. Additionally, the club is going to have to pay an 8.3% social security / medicare tax ( out of the club's pocket ) based on every dancer's pay. This is a percentage of the total dancer's earnings ( which includes club reported tip income and private dance income ) not just the $2.13 an hour - which must legally total at least $7.50-$8.00 an hour (varies if state minimum wage is higher than federal minimum wage).

    Besides creating an inescapable necessity of the employee dancers filing tax returns to explain this W2 income ( which must also include additional tip income and private dance income earned in the club but potentially not reported on the club issued W2 ) this also creates an official record of the fact that a girl named X with address Y and social security number Z has worked as an exotic dancer. This official record will then be available to any 'authorized' persons ... which may include future potential straight job employers, family court etc.

    Also, if a particular dancer works more than 27 hours per week ( varies slightly from state to state ) then the club is going to have to pay ( out of the club's pocket ) unemployment insurance premiums, worker's comp insurance premiums, and any other state mandated employee benefit costs. Since these are typically expensive where performers are concerned ( high turnover, high probability of eventual injury etc. ) clubs will go to great lengths to avoid having to pay these new additional employee costs. The easiest way to do this is to 'ban' every dancer from scheduling / working more than 24 hours per week in order to guarantee that every dancer will be considered as a 'part time employee' by the state DOL ( who are exempt from unemployment, comp and other 'full time employee' mandated benefits ).

    As an employee dancer, the 'employer' club is NOT allowed to charge you stage fees / locker rentals / house fees. However, because 'tip sharing' is legal, expect that some equivalent of mandatory tipouts to DJ's, bouncers, bartender etc. will continue.

    Also as an 'employee' dancer the 'employer' club now becomes the legal owner of your 'work product'. This allows the club to force you to perform private dances for any and every willing customer ( no matter how stinky or pervy ). This also allows the club to set private dance prices and to retain any percentage of private dance sales the club chooses - up to and including 100% ... yes an employee dancer's base pay includes an implied 'employee' responsibility that the dancer will perform whatever work activities the 'employer' directs her to do without the necessity of additional pay to the dancer. Expect the club to retain a significant percentage of private dance money.

    Also, in some states 'employee' dancers are forbidden by state labor laws from accepting direct payment from club customers. In this scenario, every dollar of customer money must be channeled through the club's cash register. Usually this takes the form of the customer purchasing private dance 'tickets' and club 'funny money' from the club's bar or door, and the dancer subsequently turning in her collected private dance 'tickets' and 'funny money' tips to the club's bar or door at the end of the night / week in exchange for cash payments - cash payments which the club must also calculate into it's 'employer' Social Security tax payments, worker's comp and unemployment insurance payments, and of course add to the end of year W2 report of dancer income that the club must send to the IRS.

    ~
    Last edited by Melonie; 06-23-2010 at 01:53 PM.

  9. #9
    Veteran Member Autumn Lily's Avatar
    Joined
    Nov 2009
    Location
    Wichita, KS
    Posts
    589
    Thanks
    277
    Thanked 230 Times in 94 Posts

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    I've considered reporting my club for incorrectly classifying employees and garnering wages. How would I format my argument for that?

  10. #10
    Banned Melonie's Avatar
    Joined
    Jul 2002
    Location
    way south of the border
    Posts
    25,932
    Thanks
    612
    Thanked 10,563 Times in 4,646 Posts
    Blog Entries
    3
    My Mood
    Cynical

    Default Re: Class Action Lawsuit/ Employee Status Questions

    ^^^ actually this is surprisingly easy to do. Most state DOL's have legal precedent for considering any modern day exotic dancer to be an employee based on the club's degree of 'control' over the dancer's activities. So if the club requires you to work specific hours on specific days ... if the club has rules about costumes, rules about music, even rules about some aspects of your stage and/or private dance performance, then odds are that if the matter is brought to the attention of the DOL that the club's dancers will in fact be ruled to be 'employees'.

    The first step in doing this is to consult a labor law attorney. This will involve up-front legal costs ... but will probably result in an eventual club settlement / award that more than covers those legal fees.

    However, be aware that winning a DOL case against your club usually turns out to be a Phyrric Victory. While the dancer(s) involved in the DOL case will receive some sort of cash awards, future dancers will not. Clubs being forced to treat dancers as employees ALWAYS involves higher costs to the club, from book-keeping and tax preparation costs to worker's comp / unemployment insurance premium costs, and of course the mandatory tipped minimum wage dancer paycheck costs. If the number of customer dollars coming in the club's front door doesn't change, and if the club's costs of operation increase as the result of dancers being ruled as 'employees', then there are only two ways that those higher costs of operation can be paid for. The first is a reduction in the clubowner's profit margin ( don't hold your breath on that one ). The second is a reduction in dancer take-home earnings via the club retaining a higher percentage of dancer tip income / private dance income.

    I would also point out that in virtually every instance I have heard of where a club was forced to classify dancers as 'employees', those clubs became incredibly 'dirty'. The reason of course is that as 'employee' dancer earnings become fully documented via the club's payroll system, and as 'employer' clubowners begin retaining a high percentage of dancer tip income / private dance income, and as 'employer' clubowners must legally report all of this dancer income to the IRS, it becomes very difficult for the 'employee' dancers to earn a decent amount of money. And the only remaining source of money that will NOT be glommed onto by the club and thus the IRS is customer 'extras' money exchanged behind the closed doors of the private dance area / VIP room.


    we are permitted to join the suit
    Well, given that you ( the OP ) will be allowed to join the already initiated lawsuit 'for free', and considering that a large number of clubs that are forced to operate under 'employer' / 'employee' status wind up either going belly up financially or becoming intolerably 'dirty', you may want to seriously consider signing on to the lawsuit. In that way at least you will receive some amount of 'award' money from this club as belated 'severance pay' while you begin to look for a new club to work at that still treats its dancers as independent contractors ( meaning that you can still earn a decent amount of money without resorting to being 'dirty') .

    The flip side of course is that if you are 'stuck' dancing only in your current city, and you do sign onto the lawsuit, other clubowners in the same city will probably black-list you as a potential 'troublemaker', thus ending your options for continuing to work as a dancer in your current city ( other than continuing to work at your current club for near minimum wage, or starting to offer 'extras' to customers at your current club as other dancers will quickly begin to do in order to maintain their pre-'employee' dancer income levels).

    And of course being named as a party to a lawsuit against a 'strip club' will undoubtedly show up in future in-depth background checks since it becomes public record. But then again continuing to work at the same club as an 'employee' will also add your working at a 'strip club' to the public record via the IRS ( but in a less obvious fashion ).

    ~
    Last edited by Melonie; 06-23-2010 at 02:48 PM.

Similar Threads

  1. Lawsuit is gonna f it all up. Dont want to be a employee
    By gingersnap in forum Stripping (was Stripping General)
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: 10-23-2011, 01:15 PM
  2. New class action lawsuit against Deja Vu
    By AnnaPDX in forum Stripping (was Stripping General)
    Replies: 40
    Last Post: 06-21-2011, 12:56 PM
  3. Dancers with Employee Status
    By charlottepower in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 16
    Last Post: 02-11-2011, 04:24 AM
  4. Class Action Suit
    By UtahMike in forum The Lounge
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 05-26-2008, 05:45 PM
  5. Class Action Lawsuit Won Against Gold Club!!!
    By MercedesNYC in forum Dollar Den
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 02-02-2007, 03:54 AM

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •