New York City strip club Rick's Cabaret has been ordered to pay more than $10 million in unpaid wages and tips after employees sued them because they weren't being paid minimum wage [via CBS News.
The dancers reportedly had to pay the club to let them perform there and then worked solely off the money they received from customers, often leaving them penniless once they'd paid the club, the DJ, and other club workers. Additional claims for back wages are also being made for the approximately 1,900 women who worked at the club between 2005 and 2012.
The club's owner, RCI Hospitality Holdings Inc., says they view the dancers as independent contractors and plan to appeal the ruling.
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Lane Moore is an award-winning comedian, actor, writer, and musician. She is the creator of the hit comedy show Tinder Live and author of the critically acclaimed book How to Be Alone: If You Want To, and Even If You Don't. Moore is the front person and songwriter in the band It Was Romance, which has been praised everywhere from Pitchfork to Vogue. She has written for The Onion, The New Yorker, and was previously the Sex and Relationships editor at Cosmopolitan.
