Strip Joints

First, a sort of disclaimer: I don’t suppose that it’s very macho of me to admit it, but I don’t like strip joints. 

The fact that they make money seems to indicate that they fill a need, but if they all disappeared tomorrow my life would be just as complete. I’ve only been a couple of times – a couple of bachelor parties – but my impressions were that the drinks were too expensive, the music too loud and the dancers simply made me sad.

That being said, local clubs have been in the news a lot lately. 

There was the story about the guy from the Port of San Francisco who used a government credit card to run up a huge bill. 

Then the Houston Chronicle reported that Rick’s Cabaret spent tons of money on the last political campaign in an unsuccessful attempt to elect folks who might have helped them in their current legal battle with the City of Houston.

Now,  it’s being reported that two strippers have sued Rick’s, XTC Cabaret, and RCI Entertainment, the company that owns them and a whole string of strip joints in several Texas cities.  Their complaint is that the clubs fail to pay minimum wage or overtime, and they want back pay for themselves and all the other dancers.

It all comes down to whether exotic dancers are employees or contractors. 

Don Foty, an employment lawyer with Kennedy Hodges in Houston who is representing the dancers, said the clubs do not pay the dancers, who are typically scheduled for eight-hour shifts. Instead, the dancers pay the clubs to allow them to perform at a rate that ranges between $20 and $100 per shift. The dancers work solely for tips, the lawsuit claims, while the clubs require them to share the tip money with disc jockeys, managers and others.

Just the fact that the strippers pay the club for stage time seems to make it pretty obvious that they are contractors.  I don’t think they have a  leg to stand on.

That last sentence brought the picture of a legless stripper to mind – I wish I hadn’t written that.