Dancer Misclassification Suits Continue to Ratchet Up

TULSA, Okla. — A wave of employment-related litigation continues to ripple through the U.S. strip club industry as a steady stream of dancers initiate legal claims against venues that continue to misclassify them as independent contractors. One of the latest lawsuits alleging wage violations is the case against the operators of the Night Trips strip club in Tulsa, Okla. In the suit filed earlier this year, three dancers allege that Night Trips broke the law when it failed to pay them an hourly wage, requiring the performers instead to pay operators to work there. For Gregg Greenberg, a Silver Springs, Md.-based attorney representing the three dancers, the alleged conduct of Night Trips was all too familiar. “You see this type of case all across the country — the underlying claim is that the employees must get at least minimum wage,” Greenberg told AVN. “It seems to be an industry standard to misclassify the dancer employees as independent contractors, but case law on the issue is clear. Whether or not exotic dancers are independent contractors or hourly wage employees is very well settled.” Greenberg claims that Night Trips operators knew or should have known that the industry has for the past decade faced challenges to the independent contractor classification for its workers. Attorneys for Night Trips did not respond for comment by post time. For the past 15 years, litigation against strip clubs has ratcheted up. A study by Bloomberg found 406 lawsuits filed since 2005 through the end of last year by dancers alleging clubs misclassified them as independent contractors. More than half of the cases involving dancers that have been closed ended in a settlement, Bloomberg found. One of the largest settlements involved the Spearmint Rhino chain, which paid $13 million to thousands of current and former dancers. Another settlement involved Deja Vu Showgirls, which agreed to pay out $1.5 million to dancers. Some cases ended up with big jury awards. A Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded several hundred dancers at Paradise Show Girls $6.5 million as compensation for lost wages. In another case, operators of Rick’s Cabaret in Manhattan were ordered to pay $10.8 million in back wages to 1,900 dancers. Greenberg, who is representing dancer plaintiffs in two other cases against strip clubs in Detroit and Houston as well as one against the sister business of the Night Trips in Oklahoma City, said that it’s typical for courts to look at several factors to determine whether the worker is an employee or independent contractor. “The court is going to look at an economic reality analysis,” Greenberg said. “Courts will determine an employee’s classification is whether or not the employer exercises economic control over its workers.” In regards to the three Night Trips dancers, their suit said the company controlled all aspects of job duties, including setting customer prices on private dances. Night Trips, according to the suit, also had to pay the business a “house fee” for each shift they worked. The club also regularly withheld tips customers would leave for the dancers, the suit said. Greenberg said that once courts reopen after the pandemic subsides the case will move to arbitration. “It is now common for adult clubs to make sure performers sign arbitration agreements, which can limit class-action designation and how a case proceeds,” he said.