City of Denver going after RCI clubs.

9/18/2024 3:27:26 AM

DENVER — Three Denver strip clubs are suspected of violating their dancers' labor rights. In a news release, the Denver Auditor's Office said it's investigating wage theft at PT's Showclub, PT's Centerfold and Diamond Cabaret.

The clubs are suspected of misclassifying dancers as non-employees to avoid paying them minimum wage, overtime and earned tips. The auditor's office said the clubs have not produced any financial records.

Denver City Council voted in April to give the auditor's office subpoena power to perform audits. This is the first time the office is using that power. The auditor's office is hopeful the subpoena will speed up its investigation.

"It's a win for Denver's workers that we had this process in place in time," Auditor Timothy O'Brien said in a news release. "This is the first time we are using this subpoena power and without it, we would be unable to conduct our investigation into whether dancers' rights are being violated."

The auditor's office is requesting three years' worth of contracts, contact information and payment records of dancers at each location.

The clubs have until Sept. 24 to respond to the subpoenas. After that, they will face fines of up to $1,000 a day, according to the auditor's office.

All three strip clubs are owned by the same company, RCI Hospitality Holdings, Inc.

In a statement, an attorney representing the strip clubs called the subpoenas "overreaching" and "unjustified."

The statement says in part, "In the Clubs' opinion, Denver Labor is sending the message that they are willing to ignore the bounds of the law in an effort to collect private data and information from individuals who are not under their jurisdiction."

The attorney said the clubs are prepared to go to court to fight the subpoenas and defend their business practices.

The auditor's office said it hasn't reached a conclusion in the investigation yet.

PT's Showclub on West Evans Avenue recently faced unrelated legal trouble. The club was shut down for two weeks in January following allegations dancers were engaging in prostitution.

14 comments

Latest

caseyx

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2 months ago

The city of Denver is turning into a shithole, overrun by homeless, crime rising and the city council is worried about whether strippers are classified as employees. That makes sense.

blahblahblahs

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2 months ago

Denver is pretty awesome.

Icey

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2 months ago

Good. Dancers need to have their legal rights protected

nicespice

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2 months ago

Yeah, Denver is always looking for something to target the clubs with. It was especially bad during that first year after Covid shutdowns. The ones that are in Glendale or more north in the metro area seem to be left alone more often.

funonthaside

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2 months ago

Why would a dancer WANT to be classified as an employee? As an independent contractor, they have far more flexibility.

Muddy

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2 months ago

^Dental coverage? Just guessing.

rickmacrodong

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2 months ago

It doesnt make sense. How would classifying them as non employees allow them to keep the dancers tips? Also how would overtime be relevant in any way, shape or form? What dancer works over 40 hours a week? And even if they did, they would be selling dances, making far more income than any minimum wage. Is a club really obligated to pay dancers an hourly wage when they can also sell lapdances and go on stage for money?

skibum609

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2 months ago

If your city was being overrun by violent gangs filled with illegal alien criminals, wouldn't you focus on naked women?

Icey

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2 months ago

Being an employee has lots of benefits. Pay stubs so they can apply for an apartment on their own. Pay into social security. Insurance. They can opt for house fees to be deducted from their pay. A guaranteed minimum for a shift on a slow night.

Icey

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2 months ago

The wage theyre paid is in addition to their regular earnings. Thats how it works in California

blahblahblahs

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2 months ago

Denver is not being overrun by violent gangs. It's a very pleasant city.

rickmacrodong

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2 months ago

Icey there are multiple factors that go into a dancers pay, you have the potential hourly wage pay, you have the potential house fees, charging dancers to work a shift, then you have to also consider how much % of dancer tips or earnings are kept by the club.

Everything has an impact on each other, so if you force clubs to start paying a certain hourly fee to dancers, they can simply respond by increasing the % of fees they keep from dancers selling dances, or charging dancers a higher amount to work at the club. There’s multiple variables they can adjust, so simply forcing them to pay dancers an hourly wage doesnt automatically mean the dancers will earn more money because they may also decide to keep 50% of lapdance earnings instead of 25%.

A dancers earnings are a combination of tips, potential cuts received for selling drinks, an hourly salary, house fee/no house fee, and what % of lapdance/VIP earnings she keeps. If you try to force a club to pay a certain minimum hourly wage or force them to not charge a house fee, they can easily respond by keeping more of lapdance earnings or decide to keep some stage tips or split them up. Or they can even be more selective in their hiring and start cutting workers.

ilbbaicnl

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2 months ago

State and the Federal government generally have more resources to deal with labor issues. So, I'm suspicious they are not really trying to defend dancer rights. They want to close the clubs, not reform them.

blahblahblahs

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2 months ago

^ probably a good read on the situation. Local governments are becoming increasingly creative in finding ways to harass clubs.

^^ Yeah, but clubs can fuck that up by disincentivizing dancers.

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