Judge: Stripper is employee, entitled to back pay

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An exotic dancer who used to perform at a Baltimore night club did so as an employee, not an independent contractor, a federal judge has ruled.

The ruling means Unique S. Butler is entitled to damages from the owner of Norma Jean’s Nite Club under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, the amount of which will be determined at trial, according to the ruling. No trial date has been scheduled but J. Wiggs, an Upper Marlboro solo practitioner and one of Butler’s lawyers, said there is still the possibility of a settlement conference.

“The FLSA has been around for almost 100 years, and women are still fighting for equal pay,” said Wiggs.

Senior U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson used a six-prong test to determine Butler was an employee of PP&G Inc., finding the club controlled the dancers’ economic opportunities and that they are integral to the club’s business, characteristics of an employee.

“Here, any contention that the exotic dancers were not integral to the operation of Norma Jean’s flies in the face of logic,” Nickerson wrote. “The presence of the exotic dancers was clearly a major attraction of the club, and increased significantly the sales of alcoholic beverages and, accordingly, the profits earned by PP&G.”

Nickerson also cited the lack of specific skills required to dance at the club, which also indicates she was not an independent contractor.

Gregg C. Greenberg, a Silver Spring attorney not involved in the lawsuit but who has represented plaintiffs in similar cases in Maryland and other states, said Nickerson’s ruling is consistent with case law across the country.

Both Wiggs and Greenberg said clubs can start paying their dancers minimum wage or a “tip credit” much like many restaurant servers receive.

“It’s not hard for [the clubs] to make money,” said Greenberg, of The Zipin Law Firm LLC in Silver Spring. “They just have to stop stealing from their employees.”

Butler, whose stage name is Dior, filed suit in February in U.S. District Court in Baltimore seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages. The complaint, filed by the Law Office of Jimmy A. Bell P.C., alleged that Butler was required to pay $45 of her tips to the club each night and an additional $20 if she were late for her shift.

Butler sought damages under FLSA and the Maryland Wage Payment and Collection Law, which prohibits wage deductions under certain circumstances. Nickerson ruled he needed more information to determine whether any fees or fines paid by Butler quality as deductions under state law.

“It is…unclear, and the briefing by the parties is insufficient to determine, whether the fees paid by Plaintiff are properly considered to be deductions from her wages… or whether they are more appropriately construed as tip deductions,” the judge wrote.

John C. Themelis of The Themelis Firm LLC, a lawyer for PP&G, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.

A former exotic dancer filed a separate suit against Norman Jean’s in September, claiming she was unfairly stripped of her tip money and fired for being a witness Butler’s case.

Raqiya Whyte filed the suit on behalf of herself and others similarly situated and sought class action status under FLSA. That case is pending.