COURTS

Providence strip club agrees to pay $750,000 to settle strippers' class-action wage suit

Brian Amaral
bamaral@providencejournal.com
The Providence Journal/Frieda Squrires

PROVIDENCE — A Sims Avenue strip club has agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a federal class-action lawsuit by strippers who said the club failed to pay them wages and illegally forced them to share their tips.

The agreement between Club Fantasies and its strippers was signed Wednesday, and still needs to be approved by a federal judge. In the absence of an objection, approval of class-action settlements is generally routine.

Under the agreement, the strippers’ lawyers will receive no more than a third of the proceeds. The person who originally brought the suit, Arielle Walsh, will receive a $20,000 bonus, called a service award for being the representative plaintiff in the litigation.

About 300 strippers could get a share of the rest, court papers show. The settlement covers anyone who worked as an “exotic dancer” there since November 2012.

Providence club owners have in recent years faced an onslaught of legal troubles. Celebrities like Carmen Electra have accused them of brazenly appropriating their images. And the city police department has raised concerns about prostitution at two of them; the city unsuccessfully fought to permanently close the Foxy Lady and is now considering whether to close the Wild Zebra.

But some big financial hits have come from the wage suits. The issue brings together the erotic world of strip clubs with the decidedly unsexy, but high stakes, area of employment law.

Clubs in Providence and around the country have classified their strippers as “independent contractors.” Because of that, the strippers don’t receive worker protections like a minimum wage and overtime. They’re also forced to pay the club fees just to dance there ($30 per shift, $5 per lap dance, $30 per champagne room lap dance, the Fantasies suit said) and must give bartenders and bouncers a cut of their main source of revenue — tips from customers.

But they’re clearly employees, plaintiffs' lawyers have repeatedly said. That comes down to the amount of control that the clubs have over these workers. It’s extensive, the suits say. For example, in the case of Fantasies, the strippers weren’t allowed to dance at other clubs; they’re managed by “house moms” who work for the club; and they have scheduled shifts. Independent contractors, like an accountant who does the taxes for a car dealership, aren't subject to that sort of detailed control of how they do their work. 

Plus, the Fantasies suit said, the strippers are offering services integral to the club’s business — live entertainment in the form of nude or semi-nude dancing. That makes them employees, the suit argued.

Fantasies is just one of the Providence clubs that has faced such a suit, and case after case in recent years, judges have agreed: The strippers are employees, not independent contractors, and they’re protected by certain employment laws, notably the federal and state minimum wage. Fantasies failed to pay a base wage at all, the suit said.

But according to experts in the field of suing strip clubs, the clubs have often responded to these legal setbacks by continuing to do business in a way that’s repeatedly been found to violate the law. They’ll pay out a settlement every few years as part of the cost of doing business. And some clubs nationally have also resorted to forcing their strippers to sign arbitration agreements before they can work there, essentially agreeing not to sue in court or form class actions. That limits their ability to fight in court.

An attorney for the club declined to comment. An attorney for the class of workers was not immediately available.