Dancers sue for minimum wage??
Monday, May 16, 2011 2:12 PM
Are these girls serious lol
Ten's workers: Pay us as employees, not contractors
By Katie Curley
SALISBURY — Three Ten's Club dancers are suing owner Mark Filtranti and the management of the club, claiming they were not paid minimum wage or overtime for the past several years.
According to the civil complaint filed this week in Salem Superior Court, plaintiffs Katherine Sandoval of Kennebunkport, Maine; Noel Van Wagner of Boxboro and Bonnie Griffin of Merrimack, N.H., say Ten's management misclassified them as independent contractors, therefore getting away with not paying them wages, tips or other benefits that they would be entitled to as employees.
Two of the three strippers are current employees of the nude dancing club and labeled as "Ten's girls" on the Web site.
Sandoval worked for the club from 2006 to March 2009, while Griffin has worked there from 2002 to present and Wagner from 1995 to present.
The plaintiffs are saying Ten's violated Massachusetts statutory and common law, as well as violating the state's independent contractor laws and obligations to pay the dancers minimum wage and 11âÑ2 times their regular rate of pay for overtime.
According to the complaint, Ten's management does not pay the minimum wage, and even when dancers work more than 40 hours a week, no overtime is paid.
The complaint also says the club does not allow dancers to retain all their tips, but requires all dancers to pay a fee of between $40 and $60 to management in advance of their shift for the "right" to perform. A fee is also assessed of the dancers if they choose not to participate in all scheduled dance routines.
"They have always been deprived of other amounts that were improperly deducted from their pay, as well as eligibility for unemployment and workers' compensation," the complaint reads. "They have been responsible for the employer's share of taxes that the defendants did not pay because of their misclassification as independent contractors."
The complaint says the plaintiffs are asking for all wages owed as well as attorney's fees and costs.
Attorney Todd A. Cochran of Boston is representing the Ten's dancers. Cochran also represented dancers in a similar case against King Arthur's Lounge in Chelsea. About 70 nude dancers who worked at King Arthur's Lounge are now entitled to recover thousands of dollars in damages after winning a class-action lawsuit that made similar allegations.
That complaint was believed to be the first of its kind in Massachusetts.
Attorneys for King Arthur's argued the main business of the establishment was selling alcohol, and said the dancers were independent contractors providing entertainment, akin to having a television or pool tables at a bar.
The judge denied the argument, saying "a court would need to be blind to human instinct to decide that live nude entertainment was equivalent to the wallpaper of routinely televised matches, games, tournaments and sports talk in such a place."
"There is no difference between what happened at King Arthur's and what happened at Ten's Show Club," Cochran said. "If anything is different, (it would be) King Arthur's said they are a bar as they don't have a cover charge while Ten's does have a cover charge."
Cochran says Ten's Club owners have violated the independent contractor's statute by paying the dancers as if they are contractors while treating them as employees.
"They are saying by treating them as contractors that these dancers are artisans and professionals," Cochran said. "In which case, they could go and work at other clubs if they wanted. They are saying that these girls just show up and pay a dance fee, but they are really listed as 'Ten's Girls,' on the Web site, which shows ownership. And they are not allowed to work elsewhere at the same time."
The complaint also states the dancers do not have the opportunity to grow their business as they would if they were indeed, "independent contractors," and do not have any discretion in what work they perform and how they perform it.
"The behavioral and financial control manifested over the dancers by defendants demonstrates that they are employees rather than independent contractors. Defendants instruct them in how to do their work and exercise control over most of the details of their jobs, including rigid scheduling of which days, which hours and which rotations the dancers work. Defendants also control the dancers' wardrobe and their dance music."
Filtranti did not return a phone call seeking comment.
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