And the beat goes on. And this bitch only worked 4 months.

shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
Another Stripper Sues Stadium Club for Failure to Pay Wages

Another day, another set of troubles for D.C.'s high end combination steakhouse/strip club, Stadium Club.

Odella Somalia, an exotic dancer at the establishment, filed suit today against the club and its owners, James "Tru" Redding and Keith Fornery, over unpaid wages

The suit, which was filed in District court, says Somalia worked at the club from November 2011 to February 2012. She alleges that she was not paid for her work, which amounted to about 24 hours a week. (Somalia says she was an employee, and functioned as an employee, of the company, but the owners of the club classified her as an independent contractor.)

She did receive tips, but, according to the suit, was forced to pay a number of fines to the club, which included a "tip-in" to the owners, DJs, and security, resulting in her actually losing money each time she went to work. Somalia sued the club in March under the Fair Labor Standards Act and the District of Columbia Minimum Wage for failure to pay wages and overtime and for illegally taking her tips. Even after the March suit was filed, the club "willfully, intentionally, and maliciously continued their illegal practices." Redding said he had no comment on the suit and would be going to court.

But this isn't the first time the club has been charged with failing to pay its employees. Earlier in the year, another exotic dancer, Talayna Clements, sued the club for failing to pay her wages and alleged that she was coerced into having sex with her manager. And most recently, the club was forced to shutter for a day after the D.C. government seized it over unpaid taxes from another one of Redding's establishments, TruOrleans—the H Street NE scandal-plagued restaurant that had already closed. The owners paid the more than $100,000 (much of it reportedly in $1 bills) in unpaid taxes, and Stadium reopened soon after. At the time, Reddings said he was in the process of selling the club.

13 comments

  • joker44
    11 years ago
    OMG - Uppity broads. What will they demand next? Right to vote? Equal pay for equal work? Control over their bodies wrt medical care?

    What's the world coming to when women don't know their place, old man?
  • Hard4Dancers
    11 years ago
    See this shit pisses me off. You wanna have the flexibility and autonomy of a Contractor, but the benefits of an permanent employee? Doesn't work that way.

    All these little lawsuits are just gonna end up ruining it for everyone one day: customers, dancers, AND employees. I know it.
  • Hard4Dancers
    11 years ago
    Seriously...how about we start assigning official work email aliases too. Gotta send photos to prospective customers, right? It's a legitimate business need... [email protected]...:rolleyes:
  • Alucard
    11 years ago
    I see what you think of women SC.
  • Lone_Wolf
    11 years ago
    Agree with Hard4Dancers.

    This shit is going to ruin it for everyone. These honey's want to be treated as employees. They better get ready to be assigned specific work hours, uniforms, strict adherence to contact rules. If they are deemed employees, the clubs will be liable for their behavior. This would mean the end of extras in all forms.

  • crazyjoe
    11 years ago
    I agree with hard dancer
  • snowtime
    11 years ago
    This is certainly coming to most clubs. If they haven't been sued yet, they will be. This is a windfall for any lawyer smart enough to get one of these cases. Almost all strip clubs have operated this way for years and until recently no one has called their bluff. I can't remember seeing a case of this sort that a club ever won. They will all have to start treating the dancers as employees and we, the customers, will be the ones footing the bill. I think it will result in the closure of a lot of clubs. Can you imagine the settlement costs involved for the large Las Vegas clubs. If they have to pay back wages to more than 200 girls who have worked at these clubs for many years, the tab will be enormous.
  • Dougster
    11 years ago
    Alutard: "I see what you think of women SC."

    Yo, retard! He posted an article verbatim without any of his own commentary. So you know shit. Oh wait, it actually your typical routine - projecting your own beliefs onto others then attacking them for it. We are all onto you, however, so just give it the fuck up already.
  • Club_Goer_Seattle
    11 years ago
    News articles like this seem to come up more frequently in recent years. I make this comment whenever this type of thread comes up: These articles are typical examples of how strip clubs treat dancers as independent contractors when it's to their economic advantage to do so, and treat them as employees when it's to their economic advantage to do so, no matter what contractual arrangements actually exist between dancers and their clubs.
  • sharkhunter
    11 years ago
    Wasn't this or something similar posted recently in another thread?

    I believe most dancers would refuse to work unless the per hour pay was really good and then what would be their incentive to give good lap dances? I suppose the house would take all except maybe a tip if the customer offered one.

    I can just imagine all the bitching, have to always show up at work by a certain time, always have to wear certain types of clothes, always have to stay until such and such a time, can no longer drink on the job, can no longer smoke on the job due to liability concerns with second hand smoke, etc, etc.
  • sharkhunter
    11 years ago
    Then the bitching would really start when the dancers complain a big chunk of their pay disappeared with something like FIco and FED and State beside the lines, well they got cheated out over 28% of what they thought they were told. Then the manager could laugh and say, those are taxes, the government always gets their cut. No more cash income except for maybe tips.
  • sharkhunter
    11 years ago
    I forgot to subtract deductibles for health insurance premiums, savings plan, etc, etc.
  • ilbbaicnl
    11 years ago
    I don't see how she can sue retroactively for four months. I would think at most they'd owe her for a week or two. You can't wait to sue just to let your damages pile up to a bigger amount. You are supposed to take reasonable actions to minimize you damages.

    Hopefully these law suits will get the girls who eek out a living badgering customers out of the club. Would be better for all concerned.
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