A longtime Amarillo strip club could be sold at public auction unless its owner pays off a more than $300,000 court judgment stemming from a federal wage and hour lawsuit.
Former employees at Beavers Gentlemen's Club sued the club and its owner Behrooz Sadigh-Pour last year over federal wage and hour claims and reached a $318,379 settlement.
Under terms of the settlement, Sadigh-Pour, Beavers and other Amarillo strip clubs, including Babes Gentlemen's Club and Cheetahs, will pay $318,379 plus interest to 21 employees who filed or joined the suit, according to a court judgment.
Under the settlement, employees will receive unpaid wages in amounts ranging from $2,312 to $27,565. The defendants also were ordered to pay $120,051 in attorneys' fees and costs. The settlement was reached during mediation.
The suit claimed the clubs, all owned by Sadigh-Pour, did not pay overtime or minimum wage to a class of employees — including disc jockeys, security personnel, bartenders, waiters and greeters — violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
According to the suit, federal law requires workers who receive tips be paid at least $2.13 an hour in order to claim credit for their tips against the minimum wage.
The suit said Sadigh-Pour, who was responsible for day-to-day management of the clubs, was responsible for determining whether they complied with federal wage requirements.
Clark Stevenson, a onetime manager at Cheetahs who also worked as a disc jockey at Beavers and Babes, claimed the clubs failed to keep accurate workplace records, did not make a good-faith effort to comply with the law and continued to violate federal wage law.
In response to the suit, the clubs denied the suit's claims and said the employees were exempt from provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“Defendants did not willfully deprive any person of wages or compensation to which they were or may have been entitled,†the clubs' attorney wrote in response to the suit.
Calls to attorneys in the case seeking comment on the sale were not immediately returned Monday.
According to a legal notice, the club and accompanying land will be sold unless the defendants pay off the judgment and interest before the sale, which is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 2 at the Santa Fe Building, 900 S. Polk St.
Beavers, located at 8401. S.E. Third Ave., is valued at more than $325,000, according to information from Potter-Randall Appraisal District.
