The February 5 Springfield Republican reports on a class-action suit filed by exotic dancers against area strip clubs:
A class-action suit filed by exotic dancers over what they say are unfair labor practices at the Mardi Gras and four other area strip clubs parallels a similar suit filed by dancers earlier this year against a club in the city of Chelsea, the lawyer for the Springfield area dancers said Friday…
In August, Suffolk Superior Court Justice Frances A. McIntyre ruled the management of King Arthur’s erroneously classified the dancers as independent contractors. The ruling allows the class action suit to proceed and opened the door for as many as 70 women who danced at the club to seek thousands in damages for lost wages.
Since then, numerous similar suits have been filed against strip clubs across the state…
In Massachusetts, a worker is considered an employee unless three conditions are met. The worker must be free from control and direction in the performance of a service, the service is done outside the usual course of business of the employer, and the worker is engaged in an independently established trade that is the same as the service performed…
See also:
Springfield Republican: “Strippers sue 5 Western Mass. nightclubs saying they denied them standard worker benefits” (2/4/10)
A group of exotic dancers has filed an unfair wages lawsuit in Hampden Superior Court against officers of five area strip clubs, arguing owners paid them no salaries, expected $40 to $100 kickbacks per shift and otherwise denied them standard worker benefits…
[The clubs are:] the Mardi Gras, Lace, Fifth Alarm and Center Stage, all in Springfield, and Anthony’s Dance Club in South Hadley…
Cochran said “the girls” at the five area clubs had to agree not to perform anywhere else, had to conform to owners’ standards of wardrobe and music and follow other rules – all of which discount them from the contractor category.
Springfield Republican: “Strip clubs need Sarno ultimatum” (11/19/09)
After two murders and countless testosterone and booze-laced disturbances, Springfield’s strip clubs have presented the city’s License Commission with a plan to bolster security…
We have said in the past that the city should shut the clubs down because of the trouble they attract.
Sarno himself has said the clubs have given Springfield a black eye, and state police have called them a disgrace to the city.
Springfield Republican Reports on Strip Clubs and the Mafia (7/8/07)
Strip Clubs: Dancers Pay to Work There
…the girls who work there, the dancers…pay $150 to $200 a shift for the privilege of working… I asked one guy in the business, “What’s the biggest risk to your business model?” He said if the government stops immigration from Eastern Europe.
Profitable Exploits: Lap Dancing in the UK
The private dance is the only legitimate way for the dancers to make money in the clubs. The intermittent ‘cabaret’, and individual pole dances by selected dancers that take place in the main club area, serve only to advertise the dancers and entertain customers. The dancers are not paid for these activities… There is no guarantee, even on busy nights, that the dancers will earn enough to cover their costs, let alone generate income…
None of the dancers interviewed in the Glasgow clubs were satisfied with their working conditions… There were no water coolers or fridges in which to keep drinks, even though this is a condition of the license for Seventh Heaven, Diamond Dolls and The Truffle Club. As a result, the dancers have to purchase drinks from the bar at full price…
All dancers in lap-dance clubs are self-employed, relying on tips and income from private dances. Dancers pay between £35 and £100 per night to the club management for ‘rent’ of the facilities[40], such as the poles, cabaret areas, private dance booths and VIP suites. Weekend rates are higher… All of the women interviewed reported that they had often lost money by working at the club when their earnings failed to cover rent, clothing, travel, drinks and childcare. Some club owners allow debt to accumulate, which can leave the dancers desperate to ‘catch up’…
In addition to daily expenses, dancers at the four Glasgow clubs, and Spearmint Rhino, London, are advised to purchase specialist clothing from an individual visiting the club who runs her own business[41]. In at least one club, the women are explicitly told that they should not buy clothes from anywhere else or make their own, in case they do not fit the ‘house style’. Most clubs also specify particular shoes that several of the women refer to as ‘porn shoes’. They are tall platforms with spiked heels that are apparently ‘very uncomfortable’ to dance in…
Two of the dancers stated that management regularly chose their outfits, and that they were given no choice about wearing them. “I have two children, who I have to support by doing this. I feel really yucky prancing around in a school uniform, because I feel I’m encouraging perverts who come to the club to abuse children”…
…This study has revealed the complex process and set of conditions in which dancers become more susceptible to requests or suggestions to sell sex. The lack of employment rights, for some women the experience of accumulating debt, expectations of the customers, fierce competition, and a link in public perceptions between lap dancer and stripper/prostitute, create an overall climate where the selling and buying of sex on the premises becomes more likely…
…club owners tend to absolve themselves of any responsibility if sexual services are found to be on occurring or being arranged on the premises, yet at the same time there is some indication that they encourage the dancers to project an air of sexual availability to customers. By making it difficult for the dancers to earn an adequate living legitimately, through requiring the payment of ‘rent’ for each shift worked in the clubs, and by hiring excess numbers of dancers at any one time, club owners and managers also create a series of structural conditions that can lead some dancers to offer sexual services in order to survive financially. This is not to say that there is evidence of significant numbers of dancers engaging in prostitution activities, but that the clubs are run in a way that both implicitly encourages the customers to seek sexual services from the dancers, and means that some dancers will offer them…
Strip Club Tips: How to Savor an Exquisite Blend of Fantasies, Lies, Exploitation and Despair (explicit language)