So I guess Strippers can get unemployment benefits without ever paying UI taxes.

17 comments

• bkkruined

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  4 years ago

  Trump's gotta do something to try and win that election.
  
  Stimulus checks worked for Bush!!!
• nicespice

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  4 years ago

  $500-$700 a week? 🤮I guess she works in Daytona or something.
  
  
• Eve

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  4 years ago

  @spice, Daytona or Orlando. LOL. Years ago, I actually banked working in Daytona on the regular (like, 3 times what this Florida stripper is claiming), but the business down there is nowhere close to that anymore - even with events like Bikeweek or the 500 race.
  
  I believe I saw that discussion or at least a similar post on Reddit. I've already got my applications printed out though because the website and phone number to apply are unbelievably broken due to the skyrocketing claims.
• nickifree

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  4 years ago

  I thought it low too. But there's a lot of dancers in slow dayshift clubs where dances are $5 and $10. Though I doubt any of them would wind up on social platform like Reddit.
• theDirkDiggler

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  4 years ago

  As soon as strip clubs reopen or July 31, whichever comes first, those benefits will end as strippers are basically "free" workers, even a source of income for clubs, so clubs will have no problem keeping them on "payroll". If they refuse to work and are legally able to, they lose benefits. I'm sure the states will be on top of it, if they have anywhere near competent bean counters...
• theDirkDiggler

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  4 years ago

  Also, Florida only has a MAXIMUM weekly benefit of $275 BEFORE taxes, which is peanuts, but Florida doesn't tax much for anything so that's what people are going to get if that. And Florida is already running into funding problems. Not everyone gets the max and i don't how they decide the amount from free lancers, gig workers and independent contractors. So that Florida stripper sounds kind of air headed...
• wiffle shwaffle

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  4 years ago

  Yeah, so? We have to eat and want roofs over our heads.
• theDirkDiggler

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  4 years ago

  Here's a website with a map and a calculator tool to see what your weekly benefit is:
  https://fileunemployment.org/unemploymen…
  This site just gives a quicker table with the states and maximum weekly benefits:
  https://www.savingtoinvest.com/maximum-w…
  
  Florida is one of the worst in the country with a $275 maximum for only 12 weeks, although the Feds are increasing this by 13 weeks. Also you only need to make/report around $600 a week to get the max ($275). You could make $10,000 a week and lose your job and still you would only get $275 (+$600) until the end of July, and then you would get $275 for another 9 weeks. That's Florida though. Some states give a lot more, Almost none give less. The average and median maximum are both less than $500 though. Also after a little bit of research, gig workers, etc. are only eligible to make HALF of the AVERAGE UI benefit from their state. So less than $135 in the case of Florida as the average benefit is definitely not the maximum $275.
  
  Also, i think only people that filed taxes can get the benefits. How else can they prove income? Or else they'll have to file this year, so if strippers report anywhere near what they made, they'll owe quite a bit in taxes. Or they'll have to wait months for paper checks/cards, after waiting weeks or more to get in the system. Regardless, they're not going to make all that much for all that long. Still $10k for not working should give them some help...
• nickifree

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  4 years ago

  Oh I see people are not including the extra $600 a week (for everyone) that the feds are throwing in. You add that to whatever you get from the state. So everyone recieving unemployment insurance will get at least $600 a week, plus whatever the state gives you.
• docsavage

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  4 years ago

  Like nickifree just said, the federal government is going to add $600 a week to whatever they get from the state. This extra $600 will last four months, probably until the end of July. I haven't seen anything saying this stops if the former employer opens back up and offers an employee their job back. You could have the clubs opening back up in late May or in June but some of the girls won't want to come back as long as the government check keeps coming. This will leave the clubs understaffed. Being understaffed, one unintended consequence may be that some of them may go out of business which may create more unemployment in the long run.
• Bavarian

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  4 years ago

  Has any PL heard from their favorite stripper being able to sign up for this?
  
  What subreddit, Nicki?
• theDirkDiggler

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  4 years ago

  It won't matter if the girls don't want to come back in late May or June because generally unemployment stops if your job is available again and you are able and available to work. Again any state or federal bean counter will recognize this and you have to certify that you have been seeking and searching for available work if your previous job/employer is not hiring. You can't just say you don't want to work there anymore, because that is the very job you were "laid off" from because of the coronavirus, and now they are taking workers back. Also since clubs don't have to pay dancers to work, they're always hiring and have available "jobs." Also the federal supplements end on July 31, which is 4 months after the stimulus was signed into law. But the supplements can end any time before that and will end at the same time the unemployment benefits end as they are tied together; that is you can't get the $600 without the unemployment insurance payment, although you will still be able to get unemployment insurance benefits after July 31, because the feds extended those benefits an extra 13 weeks.
  
  Again, the clubs shouldn't be understaffed in dancers, assuming the clubs didn't go under from spending money in rent and other fixed costs, because the dancers will stop receiving checks as soon as the clubs are allowed to reopen (which may be before or after July 31) and have numerous openings. Regardless, after July 31, EVERYBODY unemployed, not just dancers, is going to see a severe drop in income so they'll have much more motivation to work if they are allowed to do so, also assuming an exit strategy for the lock down has already well been established if not already implemented by then.
• nickifree

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  4 years ago

  There's really nothing preventing dancers from working while still collecting unemployment checks. There's no way the states can keep track of, and maintain oversight on hundreds of thousands of unemployed people. This mess is going to be a clusterfuck because politicians were too reactive. I think anyone working should get whatever piece of the pie you can, because in the end we are all going to have to pay for it.
• trapdoor

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  4 years ago

  This falls inline with what I've been told by a dancer I've been helping through this time. Figured it was all BS, but starting to sound like she's telling the truth. I didn't think independent contractors or even sex workers would qualify, but she reassured me that only applied for those who didn't pay taxes. Still don't feel comfortable paying her every week until the checks come in.
• Papi_Chulo

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  4 years ago

  As far as I see it, the sticking-point might be whether the dancer has filed taxes in the recent past or not - if they have then I'd think they'd qualify for benefits particularly under these circumstances - but many dancers seem not to file taxes but even then maybe they can file for this year and then apply for benefits, although IDK if they wanna be on the radar if they haven't been till now.
• theDirkDiggler

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  4 years ago

  A lot of them are going to be struggling whether they file or not. Even if they do file, they'll have to pay/owe a "huge" amount of SE tax that they don't have and was never withheld. That is with even vastly under reported incomes, but still a minimum amount required to get unemployment benefits by their state's standards. This is also true of many other independent contractors that took the chance of not reporting any income or filing taxes.
  
  The reality is that the vast majority of strippers are in for a very rough ride, and that is the reason so many (or shit tons, as one stripper/pornstar on this board stated) are very anxious to get back to work...
• skibum609

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  4 years ago

  Yet people still wonder why cash is king ......