This one sounds familiar: six ex-cocktail waitresses from Bronx's Sin City strip club have filed a lawsuit, claiming their managers took their tips and routinely groped them. Janelle Denalli tells the Daily News, "I'm not grinding. I'm not giving anyone any lap dances. I'm just serving drinks....This is a workplace." Because if she were grinding all night, all the sexual harassment would be totally acceptable.
The waitresses could make up to $500 a night in tips, but would often lose most of it to petty fines, such as fines for wearing the wrong type of shoes. The managers would also allegedly hurl sexist and racist slurs at the waitresses, and made inappropriate advances. Well, more than just advances. One ex-waitress says a manager "pulled my shorts down once in the locker room. I felt like I was being raped," while another said a manager demanded oral sex in exchange for buying her a scarf.
Owner Gus Drakopoulos' lawyer, Stephen Hans, has a different idea about how the lawsuit came about. He said, "Maybe the waitresses are upset because it's a recession. Maybe guys are spending less money."
