Stripper Kicks Back At Strip Clubs Over Illegal Kickbacks

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There's a cliche in movies (and certain, uh, adult films) that many strippers are actually empowered women trying to pay their way through graduate school. Scoff if you will, but considering how many strippers have successfully sued the city or their employers in the last year, for everything from career-ending scars to sexual harassment, we're starting to think there may be something to this.

A stripper at three NYC clubs is suing the club owners, claiming that they make her pay illegal kickbacks in order to grind her pole. K. Ae Han, known professionally as Kioki, claims she had to fork over $160 a night as a "shift fee" to work at FlashDancers, Private Eyes and New York Dolls. We're not terribly surprised at the kickbacks allegation, but what we are surprised about is that she works for three different clubs. Oh sure, all three are sister establishments. But still, it surprises us that dancers get shipped from location to location. Is there no exclusivity clause in their contracts? Wait, do strippers even have contracts?? It's a little different, but imagine if this happened in other professions—if CC Sabathia pitched for the Yankees, Mets, and Brooklyn Cyclones! Which, incidentally, the Mets would totally be up for.

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By Ben Yakas in News on March 27, 2011 4:40 PM

Comments [rss]

anandamayi

Taxes are another issue--and this is based only in assumption to call someone exercising her rights a tax evader? One illegal activity does not suddenly become legal if the person filling the suit does something else that isn't legal. Everybody is paying attention to the naked chick part of the story instead of the actual legal issue. Ugh, I hate it when I get caught up by my own opinionated-ness...seriously though, read up on the definitions of these distinctions. We all need to understand labor laws better.

MoJo

Shes not giving it to her manager, it goes to the club. They have to pay for their expenses just like any other independent contractor. So what you are saying is, the club owner should build the building, supply all the necessities, pay for marketing and insurance, not to mention the cost for the license to open a strip club. Then the girls come in, make money off of that establishment and not pay a dime to the owner. Yeah.... there wouldn't be any clubs if that was the case.

Guest

You've got to be kidding. Every decent places a stripper works she pays to dance. The tips are what make you your money.

24hoursplumber

A dancer at six city strip clubs yesterday filed suit over allegations that the club owners make her pay illegal kickbacks in order to strut her stuff.

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brooklynRick

Im sure she pays taxes on all her $1 earnings?

MoJo

Okay, she is out of line on this one. First of all, exotic dancers are independent contractors, not employees. Second, all clubs have contracts that state the terms of the agreement very clearly. These are not kick-backs...they are fees. If a girl comes to an owners establishment and is contracted to dance at that location then there is a fee to the club owner for building the establishment, paying all the bills, the dancers insurance, utilities and more. These are not kickbacks but a cost to do business. Why should the club owners fork out all the risk and the dancers make all the money, seems to be a little one sided in this case.

She'll never win, mainly because she's a hired independent contractor. Sounds like she's money hungry and looking for ways to make a quick buck.

anandamayi

http://www.legalzoom.com/every...
Independent contractor definition can be found within the Fair Labor Standards Act and its understanding is often facilitated by what is known as the Economic Realities Test. Just because someone calls you an indep. contractor does not make it the case. This issue has actually been a pretty public topic of late around legal blogs and the like. Recently, a class action lawsuit in California was won against a strip club for misclassification of workers. The dancers were found to be of employee (not indep.contractor as was claimed by the defendant) status and the judge stated that they were underpaid at $40 for 10 hours of work. If you run a business, you cannot claim to have independent contractors if what you have is an employer-employee relationship (direct supervision, the right to hire and fire, enforcing schedules and hours..) This is a general statement about your post and not about any one business or business owner in particular...however, as far as I know, the legal rights of people are not determined by what they choose to do for a living as long as it is legal. That, and this does not sound like it qualifies as an independent contractor situation so I felt it was worth a mention.

Chelsea Dubois

Money hungry? She is not money hungry. Her work is PHYSICAL LABOR, she works her ass off just to give a portion of the money SHE EARNED to her manager, come on how WRONG is that???

Guest

Dancers' insurance? On what planet is that offered?

MoJo

They actually have dancer insurance.. lets say the dancer fall off the pole and knock all her teeth out, there is insurance for that... and its not cheap. But the club owner covers that expense. I actually know a location in Chicago that provides actual Health Insurance to dancers that commit to four or more nights of work.

Guest

That's not exactly insurance for the dancers, but I guess it's close enough. Those women probably get a ton of colds due to their work, but I doubt the clubs will cover the office visit and meds.

I went to a Chicago strip club once (Crazy Horse?). It was topless only and all of the women had their nipples covered with Calamine lotion. I had one beer and then left.

MoJo

Yea, the ones the cities are pretty bad. You actually need to travel just outside the city limits. Most are about 25 minutes from downtown. Those are the full nude, full liquor, $12 million establishments. Next time you are in town hit up Atlantis, by far the best. Here is a review on that club. http://gentlemensclubamerica.c...