Exotic Dancer's Class Action Alleges 'Long-Standing' FLSA Violations

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A proposed class action alleging “long-standing” abuses of Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA) minimum and overtime wages requirements—as well as California labor laws—has been filed against defendants Santa Barbara Hospitality Services, Inc., The Spearmint Rhino Companies Worldwide, Inc., Spearmint Rhino Consulting Worldwide, Inc., and Santa Barbara Hospitality Services, LLC. The 52-page complaint, off the bat, alleges “the FLSA violation raised in this lawsuit is straightforward—[the defendants] do not pay their employees anything.”

The four defendants own and manage gentlemen’s clubs that operate as “Spearmint Rhino,” the case says. The plaintiff, who worked for the defendants as an exotic danger in Santa Barbara, claims she and similarly situated workers never received FLSA-mandated minimum wages or time-and-a-half overtime pay for hours worked past 40 in a week.

“In fact, [the defendants] did not compensate [the plaintiff] whatsoever for any hours she worked at that Spearmint Rhino location,” court papers argue. “[The plaintiff] was first required to pay to enter the club, and her only compensation came in the form of tips received from club patrons.”

Unfortunately, these allegations aren’t the worst of it, as the case adds:

“Moreover, [the plaintiff] was required to divide those tips with [the defendants] and other employees who do not customarily receive tips. Consequently, [the defendants] often failed to compensate [the plaintiff] and other workers like her at federal- and state-mandated minimum wage rates, and failed to provide the plaintiff and others like her with commensurate overtime when they worked over 40 hours in a given workweek, or per California State Law, over eight hours in a given workday.”