From the Miami Herald, Rosalind Adams reports on the settlement of a class action suit which alleged that dancers at a strip club should have been treated as employees instead of independent contractors. Rosalind writes:
The strip club, just west of Interstate 95 in Hallandale, is one of three locations that settled a class action suit with its exotic dancers for $6 million. The agreement received preliminary approval from a federal judge on Tuesday.
Former dancer Adonay Encarnacion sued the company over labor violations last summer. During her time at Scarlett’s she was classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee, and her wages came solely from tips. But unlike waitresses, who also rely largely on tips, Encarnacion never received any hourly pay.
Encarnacion said online business courses she was taking at the time helped open her eyes to the problem.
“I started to realize that the environment where I was working was violating a lot of my rights,” Encarnacion said.
The Bronx native who has lived in South Florida since 1998 said that she started stripping to make up the difference in her tuition after her Pell grant was cut in 2012. But when she raised her concerns over pay with a manager, he told her that if she didn’t like their system she could leave, she said.
“He basically pulled a Donald Trump on me and said I was fired,” Encarnacion said. Today, she’s working on starting up her own marketing and web services business in Miami.
Read the full story at Strippers score in suit: Hallandale club to pay $6 million in lost wages
Okay, personal opinion aside….all I’m gonna say is, now you’ll have certain shifts to work, and like other employees that get tips, they’ll probably won’t be making much per hour.