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Kappa Men's Club
906 Dixon Ave Kappa, IL 61738

How much back pay for 6 months work?

avatar for shadowcat
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
WOODFORD COUNTY (Heart of Illinois ABC) - A former exotic dancer at a Woodford County strip club is suing the business for back pay, claiming she was incorrectly labeled as a contractor.

Brandi Campbell of Champaign and her lawyers filed suit last month in federal court disputing the way Kappa Kabanna in Kappa paid wages.

Campbell claims she wasn’t paid either the state or federal minimum wage, and had to tip others, including the club each night.

“In order to perform her job, Plaintiff was required to pay “promo fees” to Kappa in an amount of approximately $17 for every shift,” the lawsuit alleged.

“Campbell also was required to share her tips with managers and with non-service employees or agents of the Kappa, such as disc jockeys and security,” the lawsuit also said.

The court document also alleges the club’s management kept 20% of Campbell’s credit card tips by imposing a 20% surcharge on all credit card transactions.

Campbell said she worked at the club from October 2021 to February of this year.

Kappa is located north of the Twin-Cities, near the Woodford-McLean County line.

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avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
2 years ago
These kinds of law suits started against MBOT San Francisco in the early 80's.

It is not just back pay it is social security contributions. The upshot is that dancers have to be employees, and strip clubs cannot operate like that.

Usually it is former dancers, retired dancers, pursuing the law suits.

Need to go to the Private Party / Membership CLub model.

SJG
avatar for Icee Loco (asshole)
Icee Loco (asshole)
2 years ago
It's easy to figure out. Take what they paid taxes on and dividends by pay periods. If they didn't pay taxes....

If she was treated as an employee she should be paid as one. I support these lawsuits
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
2 years ago
The lawsuits may be ethical. But they will still destroy strip clubs.

Need to go to the Private Party / Membership Club model to get out from under this.

SJG
avatar for whodey
whodey
2 years ago
I always thought "back pay" for a stripper was limited to the time she spent on her back in the vip?

As far as the 20% surcharge for using a card, I can't see that holding up in court as essentially taking 20% of her tip as she claims. Assuming the club discloses the fee to customers it is just another expense to the customer. The only way it would be taking 20% of her tip is if the club didn't add 20% to the total and just took it from the dancer's tip amount.
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
2 years ago
^ The issue varies from state to state, but in CA labor law is quite progressive and other states have been following CA.

If the employer cannot prove that the worker was indeed a contractor, then they will be retroactively classified as employees.

But we get out of this with the Membership Club / Private Party Model, then the women are not employees or contractors, they are just Members or Party Guests, same as the men. But we have to have our legal ducks in order to make this hold.

SJG
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
2 years ago
They have to get minimum wage plus employer's contribution to Social Security.

But this is not what is going to break the industry. Strippers already take in a lot of money. It could be reorganized some so that it works out to be within the new law.

But with these Suits and then AB5, you have to make them employees. Not because of money, but because of other legal entanglements with that, strip clubs will not be able to function.

So we have to get out from under this and go to the Membership Club / Private Party Model.

SJG
avatar for ilbbaicnl
ilbbaicnl
2 years ago
From what I've heard Kappa's flexible about dancers working when they want to, coming late, leaving early. Will make it harder to claim employee status. The Cabaret Club suit was more complicated, a dancer got the manager on tape calling her the n-word.

Clubs claim they get a lot of charge disputes on credit card payments, so they need to take a percentage to cover them. If that's true, the only alternative would be for dancers to wait 60 days, past when the charge can be disputed. Or, refuse to take plastic.
avatar for san_jose_guy
san_jose_guy
2 years ago
The club needs to prove that they are contractors. Like how much freedom they have over what they do (costuming, stage sets, hours). If club can do this, they may stay contractors.

But in CA, because of Dynamech and AB5, you cannot use contractors for the regular content of your business. And other states have long been following CA Labor Law.

So the only choice we have if clubs are to still be nasty is:

So we have to get out from under this and go to the Membership Club / Private Party Model.

SJG

Figueroa will be getting better now that CA has lifted the loitering with intent law
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TY7Nb6Q…

miggs : "Let The Games Begin" starring LINDSAY LOHAN (OFFICIAL VIDEO)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCxM6IGC…
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