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Thread: More news for PEC, NY

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    Senior Member precise212's Avatar
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    Default More news for PEC, NY

    The judge also ordered Penthouse Club execs to turn over to the women a list of dancers’ names, addresses and phone numbers. The list will be used to identify others who might want to join the lawsuit. Lovely!

    Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/m...#ixzz13bqsrOaM

    Judge rules strippers can file suit against Penthouse jiggle joint
    By JEANE MacINTOSH
    Last Updated: 3:48 PM, October 27, 2010

    A group of exotic dancers who claim they were stiffed by the Penthouse Executive Club can go ahead with a class action suit against the upscale jiggle joint, a judge ruled today.
    Nine strippers and a makeup artist -- who say the Hell’s Kitchen club didn’t pay minimum wage or overtime and confiscated part of their tips -- were granted conditional class action certification by US district court judge Naomi Reice Buchwald.
    The court ruling means the women can seek other Penthouse club dancers to join the lawsuit.
    In court papers, dancers Stefanie Carattini, Nicole Hughes and Leslie Liwanag claimed the mammary mecca, along with owner Robert Gans and manager Mark Yakow, violated federal and state labor laws through ``a number of unlawful’’ moves.

    In addition to not paying minimum wage and overtime, the Penthouse Club also charges dancers a ``house fee’’ for dance shifts. the women claimed.
    The club also shortchanges the talent by deducting a 20 percent premium when girls exchange the house-issued ``Executive Dollars’’ -- which patrons sometimes use to tip -- for cash, the suit alleges.
    Also on the laundry list of grievances: the club’s insistence that dancers pay for their own uniforms (thongs, but no g-strings) and remain on stage for at least three songs.
    In its own court filings, the club argued that the girls are independent contractors and not subject to some labor laws.
    Judge Buchwald called the defendants’ argument ``flawed’’ and said it ``bordered on specious.’’
    The judge also ordered Penthouse Club execs to turn over to the women a list of dancers’ names, addresses and phone numbers. The list will be used to identify others who might want to join the lawsuit.

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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    ^^^ The NY state and city income tax people must be smacking their lips waiting for the list of PEC dancers' real names, real addresses etc. to become part of the 'public' court record !!!

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    Veteran Member 420bUnNy's Avatar
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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Good ideas like this pressed for by 'progressive' self-appointed crusaders for women's labor rights (aka lawyers getting 2/3 of the take) who feel they need to rush in and liberate us from our lives of oppression and shame of living on the margins of society have ruined Massachusetts. In the media and even as customers in the clubs they flash with righteous indignation at the suggestion those women actually involved in the industry would prefer to be left alone.

    The situation in Mass. is so ridiculous. Clubs have been getting sued. One of the suits involved 3 rather unattractive and unfortunately financially unsophisticated women who were pissed they weren't making more so they sued. (For what it's worth, 2 were in or pushing middle-age, and they were masseuses, not strippers, and club is total dive. another lawsuit was against a club that could be mistaken for a Superfund site, and the dancers are even worse. Point being, if you can't make money, maybe it's time to find another line of work.) They were more than happy to put their names (and in some cases, unsavory records) in the paper over and over and brag about how their kids would be so proud of them for their crusade someday. Their much ballyhooed lawsuit attracted more and more former strippers, last I heard ~150. And now they're each enjoying a measly ~$1500 share of the $800k settlement--the prize for months and months of this foolishness. And the other $400k? The lawyer got it.

    Thanks to these girl scouts, Mass clubs are starting to pay $2.63/hr, or about $16 a shift. Wow. I'm so grateful. Too bad it cost me $40 flat rate of shift pay, as well as a generous slice of income (TIPS!!!!) Mass. and the feds take in taxes. And questions of ethics and honesty aside, I know a whole lot of girls who have less money to feed their kids and who now have to pay hundreds a month in health insurance premiums that were formerly provided by the state--more bills to pay on less money than they were making before. Where and to whom do I send my thank-you card.

    Bottom line: this exercise in pseudo-empowerment proved fruitless, and the heroines who thought they were standing up to the powers that be eagerly volunteered themselves to be exploited all over again by an attorney--and for real this time.

    If this came out rant-y and bitter, that's cuz I am pissy and bitter. Sorry.
    Last edited by 420bUnNy; 04-06-2011 at 12:39 PM.


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    Featured Member goreantx's Avatar
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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    hahaha oh my god... Who would want to make minimum wage stripping?! LOL?!?!?
    Yes, I'm real.

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Quote Originally Posted by goreantx View Post
    hahaha oh my god... Who would want to make minimum wage stripping?! LOL?!?!?
    RIGHT?! So many supposedly intelligent lawyers/assorted suit-wearing professional customers would come in and ask me, "did I know I was being exploited?" because they'd just read this amazing article about how strippers were taking back the power now by suing for minimum wage and blahblahblah bullshit. And when we'd explain to them that it's better for us this way, they'd look disdainfully down our noses at us, the poor things who don't know any better. (The most insulting and paternalistic treatment I ever received was w/from a White House attorney, go figure.)

    I liked the economists we'd get in the club. They understand rationality with regard to money, ie. fundamental microeconomics.

    (The litigious climate has also emboldened a lot of stupid former employees (many former for good reason) to get lawyers and try hare-brained baseless lawsuits of their own for every idiotic reason under the sun. And then they lose and have no job and no money. But oh yeah, they still have legal bills and the kids still have to eat--I don't mean to make light of this, I've seen a few girls get into heart-breaking situations due to their own stupidity.)


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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Quote Originally Posted by goreantx View Post
    hahaha oh my god... Who would want to make minimum wage stripping?! LOL?!?!?

    Gals that end up owing money to the house at the end of the night.

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    Featured Member tampadancer's Avatar
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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    ok seriously... "jiggle joint" and "mammary mecca"? I can't get past the awful writing of this article.

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Quote Originally Posted by tampadancer View Post
    ok seriously... "jiggle joint" and "mammary mecca"? I can't get past the awful writing of this article.
    No love for allitteration???


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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    ^heh, not when it's THAT corny!

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Why the hell are PEC dancers sueing? If people ONLY knew how much the girls at that club and similiar NYC clubs make, oh sweet jesus, REALLY? I have heard some bad stuff about PEC such as if the host knows you're not a "finisher", you aren't going to get any rooms but still, the potential of money there is pretty high. I can understand some dive with older woman who are pissed cause they can't make any more money, like still it's rediculous but a club with some of the highest paid woman? I just don't understand where this is stemming from?

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Quote Originally Posted by tampadancer View Post
    ^heh, not when it's THAT corny!
    LoLz!
    Quote Originally Posted by Jay12 View Post
    ^What Sophia said.
    Quote Originally Posted by yoda57us View Post
    I wish there was an "auto-like" setting that I could just have applied to all of your posts Sophia....

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Whoa! This post is old! But I haven't been able to find this information anywhere... With all these clubs being sued for the right to minimum wage for the dancers, and dancers winning these cases, does it mean that house fees are eradicated? Or do you get minimum wage, plus need to pay a house fee? Because these suits establish that all those fees are illegal. I haven't seen whether fees are still charged are not in any of these articles/posts, but since no one has mentioned it or jumped for joy, I'm guessing fees are still in place.

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    No, nothing has changed but even if they had, we wouldn't be jumping for joy cause none of us here (that I know of) want to be employees.

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Quote Originally Posted by arielbriel View Post
    No, nothing has changed but even if they had, we wouldn't be jumping for joy cause none of us here (that I know of) want to be employees.
    I'm glad that YOU said that. That is the part of these suits that I don't get.

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    ^^^ the skeptical 'bottom line' on these employee lawsuits is that they provide an opportunity for RETIRED dancers to walk away with 'money for nothing'. The long standing joke has been that such lawsuits amount to a 'stripper's retirement fund'.

    When these lawsuits occurred 5-10-15 years ago, they drew little interest from third parties ( other than state DOL's ). Those lawsuits were usually 'settled' without judgement, with the retired dancers receiving X amount of cash ... which in turn allowed the clubowner to 'keep the books closed'.

    However, within the last couple of years, there is now a much greater amount of third party interest in such lawsuits. Broke state unemployment and disability funds have a vested interest since 'employee' dancers means increased fund revenues. Broke state treasuries see 'employee' dancers as a means for automatic income reporting thus increased tax revenue collections ( compared to a 100% 'off the books' cash basis, anyhow ). Unions see 'employee' dancers as a new constituency meaning more union dues revenues. Federal Social Security also sees 'employee' dancers as a source of increased SSI / Medicare tax revenues. Obviously, there is additional third party interest for non-financial reasons.

    Also, given the increased presence of 'corporate' clubs over the past 5 years, and especially so for 'corporate' club chains that have shares listed on public stock exchanges, the former option of voluntary 'settlement' in exchange for 'keeping the books closed' is no longer the realistic option that it used to be.

    The real unanswered question here is who is actually behind the filing of recent lawsuits against 'corporate' clubs. Filing such lawsuits does cost money. And given the reasonable conclusion that a 'corporate' club is unlikely to simply 'settle' today ( vs multiple appeals etc. ), on the surface it would appear that a handful of retired dancers would be unlikely to ever recover their legal expenses unless they are willing and able to self-finance through the entire appeals process. Thus a 'follow the money' analysis would tend to indicate that 'behind the scenes' 3rd party 'players' are also involved in these recent lawsuits against 'corporate' clubs.
    Last edited by Melonie; 11-08-2013 at 09:03 AM.

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    Question - How much do these gals end up putting in their pocketbooks ? After the legal fees and expenses of litigation ? And as we've discussed in similar threads, what real effects have these suits had ? The bigger clubs and chains can and will adapt and adjust to almost anything. One possibility is that dancers are "employees". O.K. Part of their job is to "sell" VIP's and lap-dances. How about all the money for same gets collected by a cashier ( or can ONLY be paid for with pre-bought "funny money") and the dancer just gets a commission. Not even necessarily payable at the end of the night. Might be paid monthly or even AT THE END OF THE YEAR ! Still think that some of these suits are a good idea ?

    I'm NOT saying that some clubs are not exploitative. Some are. But the other side of the coin is that the "Queens" and hustlers at many clubs risk losing a share of their hard earned cash that will go to subsidize the "wallflowers". Who besides the wallflowers thinks that is fair ?

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    Default Re: More news for PEC, NY

    ^^^ in the 'good ol' days', the handful of ( soon to be ) retired dancers bringing an 'employee' dancer lawsuit against an individual club probably received something on the order of $5-10k per dancer in 'settlement' money ... of which their attorney would grab a 1/3rd share. Obviously, a 'corporate' club is not going to volunteer that sort of 'settlement' since a broad ruling re 'class' constitution could force the 'corporate' club to pay 'settlement' money to 1000+ dancers.

    However, the latest update is that the PEC lawsuit has in fact been 'settled' ... for 'peanuts'



    (snip)"Workers at a New York City gentlemen’s club are dancing all the way to the bank after an $8 million preliminary settlement over alleged violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act and N.Y. labor law.

    In a lawsuit filed in 2009, Stephanie Carattini and Nicole Hughes accused the Penthouse Executive Club of misclassifying its dancers as independent contractors, denying them minimum wage and overtime and keeping part of the tips they received from clients. Another dancer filed a similar lawsuit against the club in 2010, and the court consolidated the two cases.

    But the club countersued, saying the dancers were not really ideal employees and had unjustly enriched themselves by dancing at rival clubs and not reporting some tips, among other “non-employee” behaviors.

    The settlement gives each of the 1,245 dancers involved in the suit a minimum of $3,727.79 for their first year working, and $988.13 for subsequent years."(snip)


    It will be interesting to see how the IRS and NY income tax agency will deal with the now 'public record' statements that 1,245 dancer X's each worked Y years at PEC !!! Hopefully the additional 'estimated taxes on unreported earnings' ( remember unreported dancer tip income was part of the countersuit ) won't cost these dancers more than 2-3 times the amount of settlement money they will be receiving !
    Last edited by Melonie; 11-08-2013 at 09:31 AM.

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