Lawsuit Claims Hi Liter Gentleman’s Club Paid Dancers No Wages

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Update: This lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice on October 4, 2018.

A lawsuit has been filed against the owners and operators of Phoenix’s Hi Liter Gentleman’s Club alleging the club’s exotic dancers were misclassified as exempt from overtime and were paid no wages at all. The plaintiff claims the defendants specified “when, where, and how” she and other dancers were to perform their work and maintained a strict level of control over the workers’ job duties.

“Defendants hired/fired, issued pay, supervised, directed, disciplined, scheduled and performed all other duties generally associated with that of an employer with regard to the dancers,” the complaint points out, concluding that the plaintiff and others should have been classified as employees and granted Fair Labor Standards Act protections.

The plaintiff claims the only compensation she received was tips from customers, and that the defendants never informed her they would be applying a tip credit to her wages. Further, the defendants allegedly required her to pay a “house fee” for each shift she worked and allowed non-tipped employees such as managers, disc jockeys, and bouncers to participate in the tip pool. In light of these alleged circumstances, the suit argues that the plaintiff and other dancers should have been paid the full minimum wage.