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Conference set in Jackson strip club discrimination lawsuit

samsung1

Ohio

A status conference is scheduled for Monday in a federal lawsuit against a Mississippi strip club accused of discriminating against black dancers.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed the lawsuit in September against Danny's Cabaret in Jackson, which bills itself as the largest adult entertainment club in Mississippi and the oldest such chain in the state.

The lawsuit alleges that Danny's forced black dancers to work less lucrative shifts than whites, subjected them to arbitrary fees and fines and excluded them from advertisements promoting the company.

The club's lawyer, Mike Farrell, told The Associated Press the case is close to being resolved.

The EEOC didn't immediately respond to a message.

The status conference with U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Ball in Jackson will be done by telephone.

The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Jackson on behalf of Sherida Edwards and three unnamed women the EEOC said faced similar discrimination. They are considered class members to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit charges that Danny's retaliated against the four women after one of them filed a complaint with the EEOC in April 2011, allegedly by reducing their work hours and subjecting them to fines.

Danny's pressured Edwards to withdraw her EEOC complaint, cut her hours and forced her to compete for dancing slots, the lawsuit said. The company also maintained schedules only for black women and forced one of them to compete with Edwards for a dancing slot on the "Black shift," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said the working conditions for Edwards became so intolerable that she was "constructively discharged" — in effect, forced to quit — on July 4, 2011.

The lawsuit seeks back pay and punitive damages and for the women to be reinstated to the jobs they had before the complaint was filed.

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