Strippers sue Salisbury club for wages and tips

avatar for mreef
mreef
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breakin…

Strippers sue Salisbury club for wages and tips
September 17, 2009 07:27 PM

By Jonathan Saltzman, Globe Staff

When Noel Van Wagner began working as a stripper in New England clubs about 15 years ago, she typically got a modest wage or no salary at all. But she said she made so much in tips -- $300 to 800 per shift -- that she didn't care and didn't even mind paying club owners $10 or $20 for the right to perform each night.

Like other forms of entertainment, however, strip clubs have lost customers because of the bad economy, and Van Wagner said the place where she works, Ten's Show Club in Salisbury, has responded by wringing as much money as it can out of each dancer. The club, she says, pays no salary, charges each stripper $40 to $60 per shift to perform, and imposes other fees for lateness or failing to participate in every dance routine -- all at a time when tips have plunged.

Today, she and another dancer at the club and a former one sued the business in Essex Superior Court for allegedly misclassifying them as "independent contractors," depriving them of wages and tips. The strippers were emboldened by a recent state court ruling that about 70 strippers who worked at King Arthur's Lounge in Chelsea were entitled to recover thousands of dollars in damages in a class-action lawsuit that made similar allegations. That complaint was believed to be the first of its kind in Massachusetts.

"I expect fair treatment in the work place, and I expect club owners to obey the law and conduct their business according to the law," said Van Wagner. "None of us wants to sue, but we feel as though it's the only way to effect change."

An English major at Framingham State College who lives in Boxboro and gives her age as "thirty-something," Van Wagner said her husband, an engineer, showed her a newspaper article about the earlier suit. It prompted her to call one of the plaintiffs lawyers from that case.

The lawyer, Tod A. Cochran, of Boston, said he believes strip clubs in Massachusetts routinely violate state labor law by misclassifying dancers as independent contractors to avoid paying miniumum wage, overtime, Social Security, workers' compensation, and other benefits. Customers, he said, should be "outraged that the club isn't sharing any of its profits with the workers and is exploiting [the strippers] by not only not paying them but by charging them a fee."

Mark Filtranti, who owns the night club in the beach town near New Hampshire, was out of state today and could not be reached for comment, according to a male employee who answered the phone at the club.

The suit follows a July 30 ruling by Suffolk Superior Court Judge Frances A. McIntyre that King Athur's was liable for misclassifying strippers and that the plaintiffs could proceed to trial on how much damages they should recover.

The club had argued that selling alcohol was its main business, not putting on strip shows, and that performers were independent contractors who provided extra entertainment akin to televisions and pool tables at a sports bar. McIntyre scoffed at that, saying, "The dancing is an integral part of King Arthur's business."

Robert R. Berluti, a Boston lawyer for King Arthur's, said the ruling reflected that Massachusetts was "an outlier" in the country, with one of the strictest laws about misclassifying workers as independent contractors.

Van Wagner said she has worked at the club off and on for about 15 years. The other two plaintiffs named are Bonnie Griffin, of Merrimack, N.H., who has danced at the club since 2002, and Katherine Sandoval, of Kennebunkport, Me., who worked there from 2006 to early this year.

The suit says they are employees of Ten's Show Club because management controls most aspects of their jobs, including their wardrobes, the music they dance to, and their work schedules. The women are touted on the club's website as "The Ten's Girls" and are not allowed to work at competing clubs.

Van Wagner said Ten's Show Club never paid her a salary, but that was not a problem when management only charged her $10 to perform each shift. But with the fee as much as $60 on some nights and management deducting from their tips if they are late or miss a dance routine, she said, strippers sometimes barely earn enough to make it worth it.

16 comments

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avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
15 years ago
Let me add. A lot of retailers (Home Depot, Sears, etc)are still asking me at the check out stand, If I want an application for their credit cards.
avatar for Yoda
Yoda
15 years ago
Shadowcat, you can believe whatever you like. I'm not here to argue facts that I know to be true. I am speaking only about my experiences with dancers that I know. Your experiences may well be different.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
15 years ago
steve, you are correct. The amount of mail that I have gotten recently, offering credit cards, has trickled down to almost none.
avatar for MisterGuy
MisterGuy
15 years ago
"Yoda, any one can get a credit card."

Really?? Without any known income stream or a bank account? I don't think so old man. Besides, the govt. has many ways that they could find out about something like that.

Sure, there are strippers that don't pay a whole lot in income taxes, but it's not like ALL of them are tax evaders.
avatar for steve229
steve229
15 years ago
"anyone can get a credit card" - true back at the height of the credit boom, not so much since the credit crash...

"With the economy in the dumps, it's harder than ever to get a card. The amount of credit card offers mailed to U.S. households has dropped precipitously in 2009, from an estimated 1.13 billion in the first fiscal quarter of 2008 to 372.4 million in the same period this year."

"Why Won't Anyone Give Me a Credit Card? I don't have bad credit, and I've been trying to get one for a year/"
http://www.slate.com/id/2228452/
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
15 years ago
Yoda, any one can get a credit card. All you have to do is sign the application. Car dealers are not much different. Especially used car dealers. Ops I should have said pre owned car dealers.
avatar for Yoda
Yoda
15 years ago
Yup, all of them. That would only be about nine or ten right now but they all have car loans and credit cards. Several have home mortgages. One of them actually owns a supermarket back in Brazil and another bought a farm that she is currently stocking with livestock one hand job at a time...

You can't have a full and productive life hiding from the IRS. Paying cash for everything only gets you so far. I'm sure there are plenty of girls who don't pay up but my favs are all over 30 and have all been dancing for a while. None of them are married either by the way so they can't fall back on the hubby's tax return as a way out.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
15 years ago
Yoda, c'mon. All of them? I have personally only known 1 that admitted to paying taxes. She and her husband bought a $175K home 3 years ago. They could not qualify for the loan on his army retirement pay, so she had to declare $60K/yr earnings and now must pay taxes.
avatar for MisterGuy
MisterGuy
15 years ago
Ten's a huge club with top notch dancers for the most part, but the attitude of the club's employees there sucks. It's not surprising to me that they treat their dancers like shit.

As has been said many times on here before, the "independent contractor" line is just a tax dodge for basically everyone involved. Dancers are basically employees of a particular club, unless there are just there for an amateur night or something like that.

"I must say I fully support late fee penalties."

Does your workplace dock you if you show up 10 mins. late to work? The only job that I ever had that was like that was back when I worked in a textile mill as a kid, and they basically treated their employees like they were slaves. The working conditions were awful.
avatar for Yoda
Yoda
15 years ago
The previous suit was a class action suit involving 70 dancers. In addition to the one mentioned in this article there is another suit being prepared at a club in central Mass.

I have clubbed in Mass for well over 25 years now and the whole concept of fines and tip-outs is relatively new. Years ago every dancer got shift pay and got to keep her tips. When clubs started allowing table dances they got greedy upon realizing that a dancer's income could go way up if she was a good salesman. Clubs got greedy and changed the rules. Now it's coming back to bite them in the ass.

It remains to be seen how much will actually be awarded in damages but the suits will most likely succeed in ending the whole concept of "pay to work".

By the way Shadowcat, all of the dancers I know pay taxes. You can't own a home or a car without proof of income to establish credit. If a dancer is just in it for a year or two she can skate by but if she is in it for the long haul they can't really avoid the IRS.
avatar for Book Guy
Book Guy
15 years ago
Whoever that plaintiff's lawyer is, who spends all his time gathering settlements for strippers, is someone who has managed to arrange a lifestyle with which I think I utterly agree ...
avatar for samsung1
samsung1
15 years ago
I wonder if Noel Van Wagner is her real name or stage name? You can google that name and find her pic from classmates.com
avatar for deogol
deogol
15 years ago
I have heard of some pretty ridiculous fees for ridiculous things. The club owners might have it coming to them.

If they want to enforce quality, then point them. If they go over a set of points, they are unwelcome to work in one's establishment.
avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
15 years ago
strippers may be stepping on their own toes if they take up this fight. Do they really want to have to start paying income taxes?
avatar for CTQWERTY
CTQWERTY
15 years ago
I must say I fully support late fee penalties. C'mon, it's your job-- get to work on-time!!!

Hip Hugger in Kokomo, IN., is $1 a minute for every minute a gal is late. Of course you hear the dancers complain, "I owe them $42 for being late."
avatar for harrydave
harrydave
15 years ago
I am guessing there is a plaintiff's lawyer in Massachusetts who has spent way too much time in strip clubs.
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