Catherwood LibraryILR School

The ever hot issue of how to classify workers continues to provide profitable legal fuel for attorneys challenging fair labor practices at firms who hire independent contractors. Attorneys in Arizona have filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of 120 strippers in Arizona, claiming that Christie’s Cabaret, a local strip club, had illegally classified dancers as independent contractors. In addition to not paying overtime or minimum wages, contracts often required the dancers to pay the club a variety of fees, resulting in little to no wages for many dancers. The lawsuit follows a steady stream of strip club cases nationwide, including a recently concluded case in Florida where the dancers won a $6 million settlement. The increasing number of lawsuits in a variety of industries underscores the growing prominence of abuses associated with illegal worker classification, resulting in the Labor Department releasing new national guidelines on Wednesday on whether to classify workers as independent contractors