5 Strippers Sue Clubs Over Employment Benefits

Five strippers have joined forces by filing 12 class action suits in Los Angeles Superior Court.

They allege that 22 clubs illegally classify them as independent contractors instead of full-fledged employees. The women seek to be put on the payroll to get benefits like other workers.

Defendant Deja Vu Inc., based in Lansing, Mich., owns at least 11 clubs in California, four of them in the Los Angeles area, lawyers for the strippers said.

The dancers contend that employers force them to pay an upfront fee classified as “rent”--anywhere from $50 to $120 a night--before they earn a dime. They also say that, in some instances, they are required to buy a drink before they are free to work, often $10 a pop.

All earnings are in the form of tips they generate from customers as they shimmy on stages or in private booths. That’s split with the house, which typically takes 60%, the dancers said.

Lead plaintiff Alicia Cadena also said managers at Deja Vu regularly walk into dancers’ dressing rooms, where there are cameras, or the ladies bathroom without knocking. The dancers are not bringing a sexual harassment claim against the clubs.

Cadena’s attorney Ray Mandlekar said: “The women don’t seem to get respect for their privacy. The attitude seems to be, ‘they take off their clothes, to hell with them.’ ”

Brad Shafer, Deja Vu’s Michigan-based attorney, defended the clubs. “Did you ever see a dressing room for runway models, for example? There are people in the back rooms. It’s the nature of the industry.”

Although the clubs classify the dancers as freelancers, the lawsuits say, they are in essence employees because of the amount of control management exerts over them. Unlike contractors, the dancers are told when and where to work by club management, said Ron Dean, another Cadena lawyer.

Shafer said he had not seen a copy of the lawsuit but the company will vigorously resist it.