CARNAL NATION

A Massachusetts Judge has ruled that strippers are not wallpaper. Suffolk Superior Judge Frances A. McIntyre wrote “A court would need to be blind to human instinct to decide that live nude entertainment was equivalent to the wallpaper of routinely-televised matches, games, tournaments, and sports talk in such a place, The dancing is an integral part of King Arthur’s business.’’

In doing so the Judge ruled that the tips law, which requires a minimum wage of $2.63 per hour and prohibits employers from taking a portion of the tips applies to strippers. The case, brought against King Arthur’s Lounge in Chelsea, means that dancers will be eligible to recover back wages in addition to the $35 stage fee the club charged and the one third of lap dance fees the club skimmed from their earning. In many case this could amount to thousands or even in some cases tens of thousands of dollars.

The club had argued, that their main business was selling drinks and that the dancers were independent contractors who provided extra entertainment akin to televisions and pool tables at a sports bar. The judge did not buy that argument and granted the plaintiffs in the class action, lead by Lucienne Chaves, summary judgment on the issue of liability. The case will now proceed to trial on the issue of damages.

Robert R. Berluti, lawyer for King Arthur’s, said that some of the strippers made hundreds of dollars a shift. That raises questions about whether they suffered financially, although the judge rejected a similar argument in her July 30 ruling. “This was a case where the judge was saddled with a Massachusetts law that makes it an outlier with respect to the rest of the country," he said, and added that his client is considering appealing.

In arguing that the strippers were independent contractors, King Arthur’s said that dancers got to pick their own music, costumes, partners, and routines. The club also claimed it never gave them written rules to follow or documentation that they were employees.  The judge roundly rejected those arguments, pointing out that the club hired and fired strippers, determined what hours they worked, and “apparently hired its dancers based solely on whether they ‘look good’ rather than individual performance experience or talent.’’

Score one of the strippers.

[Boston Globe]