Exotic dancer sues 2 Westmoreland adult clubs, claiming employment law violations - TribLIVE
A North Huntingdon exotic dancer wants a local adult night club to pay her more than $58,000 in back wages she says she is owed because the club misclassified her employment status.
Deanna Betras, 41, alleges the owners of the former Filly Corral in South Huntingdon — Oli-Car Inc. — violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law by controlling the workplace environment as if she were an employee.
Instead, the owners listed her as an independent contractor to avoid paying at least minimum wage and overtime when she danced more than 40 hours a week, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh. Betras danced at the Filly Corral off and on from 2007 to May 2020, according to the suit.
The Filly Corral closed this past spring and reopened as the Filly Gentlemen’s Club in an area near the truck stop off the Smithon exit of Interstate 70.
Betras initially sought a class action lawsuit on behalf of current and former dancers at both clubs, but she asked a judge this month to give her a $58,448 default judgment. The filing contends that the Filly Corral has not responded to the lawsuit or hired an attorney to defend itself.
Neither Frank Carolla, president of South Huntingdon-based Oli-Car, nor Thomas Oliver, secretary-treasurer, could be reached for comment.
The suit naming the Filly Gentlemen’s Club as a defendant was terminated in August.
Betras declined to comment on the lawsuit. She filed a similar lawsuit in July against CM Thompson Enterprises LLC of Cranberry, operators of the Hideout in Mt. Pleasant Township. She danced there from 2019 to April 2021.
Brian Thompson, attorney for Thompson Enterprises, could not be reached for comment.
Thompson, in an Oct. 18 response to the lawsuit, denied that the dancers were misclassified and denied that the Hideout took part of their tips. The judge has ordered the club and Betras to engage in negotiations in an attempt to resolve the lawsuit before going to trial. The court ordered the parties to select an alternative dispute resolution by Nov. 16.
In her lawsuits, Betras described a system in which the clubs forced dancers to pay to perform — $40 at the Filly Corral and $20 at the Hideout.
“Dancers sometimes receive little to no actual compensation despite hours of work,” according to the suit against the Hideout.
The clubs set the dancers’ schedules, required proof of illness if they missed work, fined them if they were late for work or if they missed more than three scheduled performances per shift, according to the suits. The clubs also set the fee dancers must charge customers for personalized services.
The Hideout maintained such “significant supervision” over the dancers that the suit alleges they were not permitted to get dressed after their performance until they received permission from management.
Betras’ Pittsburgh attorneys, Edwin J. Kilpela and Elizabeth Pollock Avery, could not be reached for comment.
The lawsuits contend that the clubs violated Labor Department regulations by taking a portion of the dancers’ tips. The Hideout allegedly took $64 of the $160 dancers received when giving a customer a 30-minute “VIP” experience, while the dancers at the Filly Corral were required t0 give the club 40% of the fees, according to the lawsuits.
The clubs took $10 of the $20 dancers received when giving a customer a private dance, the suits state. Dancers at the Hideout were forced to give a customer a free private dance if the customer bought two dances.
Customers who believe they were tipping the women a certain amount were actually tipping them less because of the deductions, the suits state.
In July 2019, Franchesca Reyes filed a similar labor law violations lawsuit against Mag Pitt LLC, operator of Cheerleaders Gentlemen’s Club on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, and its principal director, John Meehan.
Reyes also contended that management did not pay minimum wage and that the only income dancers earned from working six-hour shifts was the tips they collected — though they had to give some of that money to the disc jockeys and bouncers, according to the lawsuit. The dancers were scheduled and had to perform topless, according to the suit. It was settled in October 2019 for an undisclosed amount.
Betras previously sued the owners of Rick’s Cabaret in Pittsburgh in federal court on the same grounds. She accepted a $5,287 settlement in December 2019 from BGC 135 9th St. Inc., the owner of Rick’s Cabaret.
Attorney Samuel Cordes, the Pittsburgh attorney who represented Betras in that lawsuit, could not be reached for comment.
In New York City, a federal judge awarded a group of exotic dancers close to $10.9 million in back pay in 2014. The judge determined that although the club gave a portion of the private dance fee to the women, it did not absolve the business of the requirement to pay them at least a minimum wage.
In another New York City case, a federal judge in 2013 awarded about $8 million to 1,000 dancers at a city night club on the same grounds.
Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, [email protected] or via Twitter .
Categories: Local | Norwin Star | Top Stories | Westmoreland
source: https://triblive.com/local/westmoreland/exotic-dancer-sues-2-westmoreland-adult-clubs-claiming-employment-law-violations/
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