What is the minimum wage for a stripper?
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
LOS ANGELES — A group of exotic dancers is suing some of Los Angeles' biggest men's clubs, saying the businesses are stripping them of cash.
Attorney Patrick Manshardt filed the lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court on behalf of four dancers. The suit names 19 clubs, saying they're violating federal and state law by not paying the dancers any wages and taking up to 60 percent of their tips.
Manshardt says the strippers are employees of the clubs and are being cheated out of money. He says the IRS and state of California also are being shortchanged because they aren't getting paid payroll taxes.
But Roger Diamond, an attorney who represented six of the clubs five years ago against a similar claim, says the women are contractors and not subject to employee wage law.
Got something to say?
Start your own discussion
27 comments
A true independent contractor (e.g a plumber) would be able to work on Club A on Monday afternoon and Club B across the street on Tuesday afternoon - yet most clubs blacklist girls that try this.
The (often 3 day) mandatory must-show days that most clubs use to always make sure there is a core group of dancers at any given time on the floor - also presents problems for independent contractor status.
Also the common (in most clubs) mandatory stage calls during the shift is another problem, because its adds another layer of control on the dancer - and further suggests an employee/employer relationships.
Today, for dancers that make the bigger money, lets say in the range of 50k to 100k or more per year, the current system with the lax tax enforcment is no doubt much better, because for example JUST the self-employment tax alone (off the top with no deduction before you hit regular fed or state tsxes) is 15.3% of over 15,000 dollars for a 100k earner -who would then typical pay another 10 to 20k in fed and state taxes. Why the IRS doesn't crack down on dancer's Im not sure.
Basically the IRS examines the lifestyle and works backwards. They look at where you live, what kind of car you drive, whether you take fancy vacations, credit card bills, furniture you have, and 99 other factors. IRS agents are not idiots, and if a dancer who has not filed or is suspected of significantly underreporting income gets audited, the IRS can make them show the sources of nearly everything they bought or rented or even gave away in last 1 to 5 years of longer. They have formulas they've developed over the years that are used to prove fraud in criminal cases -and the courts in general have backed up these methodologies.
,
Bonuses next year will be either non-existence or drastically reduced -that's the word. What most people don't realize is typically (on average) 40% of any bonus goes directly to pay fed and state taxes.
Its true the squeeze will begin to hit these dancers from both ends. Over the past year, I would definitely be in the top 1% in terms of spending (my most important ($$$ wise) actually purchased a house for a relative in another country) but this upcoming year I will cut way back, and even though as a percent of net income and net worth its not that big a deal for me, I've figure I've taken a hit of at least 200k to 300k in terms of the dollar vs the euro based upon money market cash I hold, and I also got hit real bad on the alt min tax for 2007 with total fed taxes paid well over 6 figures, and with Obama almost sure to get in, that means probably another 10k to 30k in taxes next year because he's going to "tax the rich", plus people like me pay 100% of college tuition, no grants or other subsidies others get. Bill Gates is rich and there's alot of us very low end so-called "rich" with huge taxes paid every year, and I cannot hide behind untaxed deferred capital gains the way Gates and Buffet do. I gotta pay every year at 40% on the dollar beyond a certain point
I ran a calculation the other day, and what I paid just in tips over the past year came out to just over 5 figures, which I think is way more than most strip clug patrons spend on regular charges in clubs each year
Fortunately I carry almost no debt, but when patrons like me get real worried, dancers might want to start looking for real jobs.
A onetime associate, who was totally fine, and had a bubbly uniquely entertaining personality, told me she worked only on Friday and Saturday nights and her take home was fifteen hundred a night.
I've heard many sob stories from girls - especially daytimers - that claim they barely can cover their tips and payouts and leave with virtually nothing. But typically, they are the ones that like to sit around a drink with customers rather than hustle for dances.
I have met a few dancers who are only moonlighting as a dancer and hold real jobs the rest of the week. I like those dancers. They are much nicer, less demanding and it's a lot easier to carry on a normal conversation with them. However they don't seem to work in strip clubs for too long.
It's been years since any club in my neck of the woods payed dancers any sort of salary to show up. Honestly, the independent contractor system is much more profitable and flexible for the dancers under the right conditions. I confess that I don't know much about the clubs in California but I can't help but wonder why any girl would dance in a club that took half of their money.
Another thing about minimum wage is, that it creates a "social standard" even if it is sometimes (often?) transgressed. It isn't JUST a number below which no payment must go; it's also a statement made by the government that "we all deserve a fair" something-or-other, and that the "fair" is at THIS point X on the number-line. I think that the current minimum-wage laws do an atrociously poor job of identifying where "fair" or "do-able" or "fair pay" should rest on the number-line. Most nuclear families, of two school-kids and a married couple, both parents working, can't POSSIBLY "get by" on two minimum-wage salaries. So, again, I come back 'round to the libertarians' point of view, about minimum-wage laws -- what they're designed to do, they don't do. Though they might be good in theory.
Which isn't to say that I wouldn't advocate FOR a certain type of "minimum pay" or "minimum American standard of living" (though it might not be the employer's responsibility to provide all of it) including, for example: decent reliable access to decent public schooling through to the Bachelor's level, as long as you don't drop out / get pregnant / commit crimes / etc.; basic health coverage for all accident and unavoidable-disease situations; safe streets; transportation to/from your place of employment/school that is also reliable and regular and safe. But heck, if I could have all of that, I could just move to Holland or Denmark! Why ruin OUR system when you can just have someone else's?
Customer (referring to her club earnings) "do you pay any taxes at all?"
Dancer "none"
Customer "You just keep the cash and don't even file?"
Dancer " basically that's it"
Customer "does the club issue any 1099's or other forms of any type?"
Dancer "nothing at all"