Worcester strip club to pay $280K to settle dancers’ lawsuit

WORCESTER — Court documents reveal that adult entertainment club Hurricane Betty’s agreed last year to settle a class-action lawsuit with former dancers for $280,000.

Hurricane Betty’s, at 350 Southbridge St., settled the class-action lawsuit in September in U.S. District Court. The conditions of the settlement and any payments to former employees were not publicly available at the time.

In 2020, former employee Leah Saad filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the owners of the club had violated the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act as well as state minimum wage and tips laws.

Saad’s suit claimed that the club failed to pay dancers hired as hourly employees the state tipped minimum wage, required the dancers pay the club a “kickback fee” that left them with no hourly profits or a net loss, regularly deducted or reassigned tips, and issued employees incorrect tax forms.

While the settlement report was submitted in September, the plaintiffs filed a motion for sanctions claiming that Hurricane Betty’s attorney Howard B. D’Amico had not responded to various emails about finalizing the settlement, citing a “refusal to communicate and/or act in good faith to cooperate with plaintiff-side counsel.”

The motion for sanctions also alleges that D’Amico’s actions postponed the club’s payments to the plaintiffs.

The judge in the case granted the plaintiffs’ motion Oct. 27.

According to court documents from December 2023, Saad was set to receive a lead plaintiff incentive of $15,000. Three other plaintiffs would get from $7,500 to $10,000 each.

The class-action fund would total $135,000, allocated to plaintiffs pursuant of a procedure where plaintiffs list

the date range they worked at the club.

A distribution form filed Monday lists 39 former employees who are to receive payouts. Total payouts of the class-action fund range from just under $200 to well over $8,000.

The incentive awards are for the lead plaintiffs who provided additional consideration for the release of their claims against Hurricane Betty’s and as compensation for their active role in the litigation. The plaintiffs’ attorneys would receive $90,000 in attorney’s fees and a $15,000 reimbursement for expenditures such as the cost of a class-action administrator.

The parties are scheduled to return to U.S. District Court Friday for a fairness and approval hearing.

It is not the first time Hurricane Betty’s will have reimbursed employees for unpaid wages.

Ten years ago, four dancers from Hurricane Betty’s were awarded money from a class-action lawsuit in Worcester Superior Court alleging similar failures to pay wages.