Two dancers sue Houston strip club over unpaid earnings
Two dancers are accusing the owners of a Houston strip club of skirting minimum wage payments by illegally classifying them as independent contractors, according to a federal lawsuit filed last week in the Southern
District of Texas.
The lawsuit filed Aug. 26 targets Cover Girls, a club owned by brothers Ali and Hassan Davari at 10310 West Little York Road near Jersey Village.
In addition to lost wages, plaintiffs Ashley Cudnik and Stacey Savoie also contend they were not paid overtime and that management skimmed money off their tips, in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. They are asking for at least $100,000 in damages.
Their attorney, Jarrett Ellzey, said keeping dancers off the payroll is a nationwide issue.
“The clubs arrogantly refused to comply with (federal requirements) and now they should be prepared for law and order,” he said.
Defense attorney Casey Wallace denied multiple assertions in the lawsuit, including that his clients took money from the dancers’ tips. Wallace said the dancers arranged their own rates with customers and kept all of their income. He said they were given an option to work for minimum wage or as contractors when they started.
“This lawsuit is frivolous and is nothing more than harassment,” Wallace said. “The plaintiffs’ attorneys have gone out soliciting other dancers around the state of
Texas to file lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit … blanketing the state with these.”
Ellzey is representing multiple dancers in similar lawsuits against other Houston-area strip clubs, including another club owned by the Davari brothers. He said the language in the various complaints reflect “the 20-25 opinions from federal district courts and appellate courts finding that dancers are always employees under the law.”
The Davari brothers own at least four adult entertainment clubs in the Houston area, according to earlier reports in the Chronicle. In 2016, they settled a similar federal lawsuit over wages for $1.1 million but denied any wrongdoing in how they classify their employees. They said they agreed to the settlement because of the costs, risks and delays of continuing litigation.
According to the lawsuit against Cover Girls, Savoie worked as a dancer at the club from August 2014 to March 2020, while Cudnik worked there from August 2017 to August 2019. They worked multiple shifts each week, performing stage and table dances and entertaining customers in VIP rooms, all while nude or semi-nude. They exclusively
earned tips.
The case alleges that management was not following a federal law that requires tipped employees to earn a wage of at least $2.13 per hour. Management charged late fees if they did not arrive on time and “exercised significant control over Plaintiffs during their shifts,” including their schedule and clothing, the suit states. They also were forced to share a portion of their tips with other non-tipped employees, according to the suit.
“This is forced subsidization or internal corporate socialism,” Ellzey said. “Dancers, just like any other tipped employees, should be able to keep their tips.”
Wallace, the defense attorney, said the dancers were initially given an option to either work at Cover Girls for minimum wage or as an independent contractor. The latter option allowed them to control their own schedule and negotiate their own rates with customers, he said. They were allowed to keep all of their earnings, he said, arguing that that income is not considered a “tip.”
“Never a single time have we taken money that the dancers have earned from her labors,” he said. “These lawsuits are not to protect the dancers. They are to line the lawyers’ pockets.”