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Thread: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

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    God/dess xxxGothBarbie's Avatar
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    Angry Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    My current club isn't doing so well most of the time & I know that the management will sometimes take it out on the dancers which is shitty. However, here lately I've become extremely mentally burnt out from this place & have been taking time off only working maybe twice a week. Our gm can be a real bitch to us if we aren't there 4 nights a week or if we aren't getting a champange room every night. She's always telling us that we are all independent contractors blah blah blah but yet she does the following:
    Tries to "bully" us into getting there earlier in the night (even though she says we can come in late, but we will have to pay a stage fee up to $35)
    Tries to dictate us into talking to certain guys thru out the night
    Charges a $20 fine if we miss a stage set (which she hasn't ever really been explained to me)
    Tells us we have to be on a schedule of 3 nights per week
    We aren't allowed to choose our own music to dance to
    Informs us that regardless of how bad the pasties irritate our nipples, whoever doesn't participate in the "new" will be terminated.. It's a bikini club with pasties only on stage! wtf?! what good is that going to do us in the vip/dance room?!

    Ugh I got so pissed off & wanted to quit right there on spot but I still don't want to burn a bridge just yet. Here lately she's gotten meaner & bitchier to me about different things there which I think are a violation of the whole independent contractor penal code. I was getting the money for a vip tonight & i was called onstage but I knew if i went up I'd lose that $100 so I walked the guy upstairs to the vip room & she told me (right in front of my custy)that I was gonna get charged a $20 fine for missing stage, wtf?! I was trying to make money bc it had been a bad night for me, you'd think that they would want us to make money not try & ruin our chances. That has NEVER happened to me before.

    She's also telling me that if I don't cooperate with the new pastie thing they're doing that I'll be terminated & I haven't been giving her a schedule lately & how I've given her a headache. I'm sorry but all of this just angers me to where I want to quit that place & never return and just dance on the road from here on out.

    The club itself sucks imo. I've had at least 3 guys in the last few days tell me what awful things they've heard about the club & all of it is mainly how boring & uptight it is to be charging such steep prices for drinks & dances when we are a bikini club that is only allowed to do air dances.

    What do you guys think????
    "Alot of people are afraid to say what they want, that's why they don't get what they want"~ Madonna




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    Banned Melonie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    ^^^ obviously the legal / DOL criteria for an 'independent contractor' versus an 'employee' has been ignored for years. But based on decisions rendered in recent 'employee' dancer lawsuits, the following tend to indicate 'employer' level control of 'employee' dancers ...

    - establishing a mandatory work schedule, with mandatory start times

    - controlling the stage performance i.e. music, costumes, etc.

    You didn't mention whether or not this club allows you to keep 100% of customer vip money ( versus paying a cut to the club ), whether customer vip money is paid directly to dancers ( versus being routed through the club's cash register ), whether the dancers are free to set their own vip prices ( versus the club dictating vip price levels ) etc. ... which could also tend to indicate an 'employer' level of control.

    As discussed in other threads, there is little doubt that clubowners are experiencing higher property taxes, higher utility bills, higher insurance premiums etc. - which are increasing the club's 'cost of doing business' thus squeezing the club's profit margin. At the same time, generally speaking, those same rising costs of 'necessities' is reducing the amount of 'discretionary' money which customers can afford to spend at strip clubs. This additional financial 'stress' is likely to be causing clubowners to become 'nastier' in a misguided effort to restore club profitability.

    Based on the info you have provided, this club is 'ripe' for an employee dancer lawsuit ... which could attempt to recover unpaid minimum wages for existing and former dancers. However, based on the same info, bringing such a lawsuit would likely bankrupt the club.
    Last edited by Melonie; 09-25-2014 at 07:32 AM.

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    God/dess xxxGothBarbie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    Quote Originally Posted by Melonie View Post
    ^^^ obviously the legal / DOL criteria for an 'independent contractor' versus an 'employee' has been ignored for years. But based on decisions rendered in recent 'employee' dancer lawsuits, the following tend to indicate 'employer' level control of 'employee' dancers ...

    - establishing a mandatory work schedule, with mandatory start times

    - controlling the stage performance i.e. music, costumes, etc.

    You didn't mention whether or not this club allows you to keep 100% of customer vip money ( versus paying a cut to the club ), whether customer vip money is paid directly to dancers ( versus being routed through the club's cash register ), whether the dancers are free to set their own vip prices ( versus the club dictating vip price levels ) etc. ... which could also tend to indicate an 'employer' level of control.

    As discussed in other threads, there is little doubt that clubowners are experiencing higher property taxes, higher utility bills, higher insurance premiums etc. - which are increasing the club's 'cost of doing business' thus squeezing the club's profit margin. At the same time, generally speaking, those same rising costs of 'necessities' is reducing the amount of 'discretionary' money which customers can afford to spend at strip clubs. This additional financial 'stress' is likely to be causing clubowners to become 'nastier' in a misguided effort to restore club profitability.

    Based on the info you have provided, this club is 'ripe' for an employee dancer lawsuit ... which could attempt to recover unpaid minimum wages for existing and former dancers. However, based on the same info, bringing such a lawsuit would likely bankrupt the club.
    yes Melonie we are handed the money first by our customers & the club gets a cut from each vip or dance that we do. I thought it was ripe for a lawsuit as I've heard others mention it in passing. This club does not ever really get packed so they def suffer without a doubt. All of the "employees" seem to have a chip on their shoulder & are easily angered. I hate the energy that club has I had a friend that just quit from there awhile back that had told me about how her customer got a couple hrs in the champange room & by accident left her a $1000 tip on the credit card reciept & my mngr kept it for herself & told her to never speak of it again. Is that normal for most club mngmt to do this???
    "Alot of people are afraid to say what they want, that's why they don't get what they want"~ Madonna




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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    Unfortunately most of you're stating sounds in the norm to me. I think scheduling is becoming more common depending on the area, and I think most clubs have a fee for coming in late, or at least an incentive to come in earlier, which I understand. When I worked in LA, it was dead until 2am and then it was booming. A lot of girls would sneak in at 1am and it was definitely annoying, as the rest of us had been there for hours. It's the same thing in London, and it's draining to sit there for hours waiting for people to come, but obviously you can't have a strip club thats open from 2-4am, so someone has to be there. If you're going to put up with that crap you should get a little extra.

    I hear you on the music thing, clubs in London are like that and I fucking hate it so much! It's so much easier to get into it on stage if you like your music.

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    her customer got a couple hrs in the champange room & by accident left her a $1000 tip on the credit card reciept & my mngr kept it for herself & told her to never speak of it again. Is that normal for most club mngmt to do this???
    normal, most definitely no.

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    Quote Originally Posted by xxxGothBarbie View Post
    I had a friend that just quit from there awhile back that had told me about how her customer got a couple hrs in the champange room & by accident left her a $1000 tip on the credit card reciept & my mngr kept it for herself & told her to never speak of it again. Is that normal for most club mngmt to do this???
    Normal? No. Even worse, since the manager stole the dancer's tip, the dancer is now also responsible for the income taxes on that $1000 that the customer left her.

    If it were me, I'd leave that club. It sounds like it is likely to go under soon, anyway.

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    that club sounds like a nightmare, I would leave, im sure you can find better.
    xoxo

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    Even worse, since the manager stole the dancer's tip, the dancer is now also responsible for the income taxes on that $1000 that the customer left her.
    This is true if the club winds up issuing a 1099 to that dancer which includes the credit card tip in the total amount of dancer 'income' reported !!! Thus she might wind up being forced to cough up ~$300 or so out of her own pocket next April to cover the taxes due on that $1000 tip.

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    they actually don't report our earnings to the IRS. That's all up to us, however though yes it is a nightmare of a place to work & I am gonna finish the week out & am traveling on sat. I'm pretty sure she used to be a dancer back in the day bc she always "seems to know what's best" for us & you can't argue with her really bc she won't listen. She also tries to pshychologically bully me by picking me apart by saying things like oh well if you'd get here on time blah blah you'd make more money or that's why you have a good night every now & then.. She'll always help hustle custys for vip rooms for her little favorites from what I've seen. It's funny bc most of the girls are complaining of how dead it's been in there until maybe 11 or 12. It's def not my fault, there's just not enough buisiness in the area. I mean from the outside the place doesn't even look like a strip club/bikini bar lol. The city of downtown wants to shut it down & have been wanting to for a year now.
    "Alot of people are afraid to say what they want, that's why they don't get what they want"~ Madonna




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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    This club sounds shitty but not exactly in "violation" of anything that strip clubs have been doing for years. The last club I got hired at, I never actually went back to get started because during my "orientation," when the manager was going over "expectations" and scheduling, I asked a question about how these supposedly mandatory things were worked out. He made it clear, in less words, that being an independent contractor meant that they couldn't technically tell me to do anything, but that it also meant that they were free to cancel my contract at their leisure if I didn't adhere to what they made clear they wanted from me. That was the moment I was really slapped in the face with what being an "independent contractor" in most SCs actually meant: no benefits of being an employee, but no actual benefits of "working for yourself."

    I would find a different club. This one sounds shady as sin.
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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    I would get THE FUCK out of that club oh my god what a nightmare!!

    I was at a club that wanted us to do "sidework" (like a waitress!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) at the end of the night! That was my last night there, that's for damn sure!!

    Please tell me where your club is so I can avoid it at all costs!!!

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    ha! so get this ... I was told tonight by my buddy who might've quit tn that my mngr told her that unless she was putting in 4-5 nights a week then she has to do the pasties. That is such BS!!! My buddy said that she didn't appreciate the way the mngr was coming at her like that like aggressive about it. I'm hoping tm is my last day there for good until i find something better.
    "Alot of people are afraid to say what they want, that's why they don't get what they want"~ Madonna




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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    Quote Originally Posted by xxxGothBarbie View Post
    She'll always help hustle custys for vip rooms for her little favorites from what I've seen. It's funny bc most of the girls are complaining of how dead it's been in there until maybe 11 or 12. It's def not my fault, there's just not enough buisiness in the area. I mean from the outside the place doesn't even look like a strip club/bikini bar lol. The city of downtown wants to shut it down & have been wanting to for a year now.
    Sounds like all of your days are numbered there so you might as well put your plan of escape into action. Sorry to hear about this horrible mismanagement.
    “What a caterpillar calls the end of the world we call a butterfly.” - ECKHART TOLLE

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    ^^^ agree totally ... get the hell out of there ASAP.

    In regard to your comments about 'not enough business in the area', that goes back to my earlier comment. Where a bikini alcohol club is concerned, generally speaking such clubs depend on a 'working class' customer base ... who themselves have fewer 'discretionary' dollars remaining for strip club spending because their own costs of 'necessities' like taxes, food, energy etc. are going up while their pay rate remains stagnant. Increasingly, successfully prying more money out of 'working class' customers means offering them higher contact or 'extras' ... which is difficult where a club liquor license and an adversarial local gov't / LE is involved.

    As such, it's all too possible that there just isn't enough economic 'raw material' left for this club to sustain itself. It would appear that the clubowner is trying to increase club revenues at the expense of the dancers in order to forestall a club bankruptcy. But that approach can't reverse the basic downward trend, so the quicker you're out of there the better off you'll be !!! It's also possible that pasties aren't actually 100% 'legal' under local laws, meaning that dancers who go along with the club's efforts to offer customers more 'skin' for their money may be placing themselves at risk of being busted for 'indecent exposure' or 'lewd conduct' or a state 'alcohol law' without knowing it. Also, leaving now will provide you with better opportunities to be hired at other clubs somewhat close to this club than if you wait until the club actually closes its doors ... at which point a dozen dancers will all be looking to get hired at other clubs at the very same time.
    Last edited by Melonie; 09-26-2014 at 08:16 AM.

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    Default Re: Vent!!! Is this violation of being an independent contractor or what?!

    Thanks guys <3 yes I agree with everyone that I need to get the hell out asap. I'm finishing out the week as of tonight & am packing my bags & hitting the road for a couple of weeks. After working in such a negative environment for so long, it's no wonder I've been overly stressed about everything and not to mention my depression has been kicked into overdrive.
    "Alot of people are afraid to say what they want, that's why they don't get what they want"~ Madonna




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