What We Can Learn from Strippers (Seriously)

Try to avoid my mistake. When I thought about situations where employees are forced into “independent contractor” relationships—and they give up overtime pay, insurance, worker’s compensation, a pension, and the like— I thought strip-dancing wasn’t a real job.

Shame on me. For some people, it’s a job—that is, unless the club works the dancer as a contractor.

This week, William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law is publishing, “Bare Minimum: Stripping Pay for Independent Contractors in the Share Economy.”

Here is a summary:

My study explores a small but revealing corner of the share economy, where an individual’s private resources are bartered for limited use by others in exchange for compensation. Strip clubs create value for owners by commoditizing sexual labor. Clubs avoid employment in favor of independent contracting with dancers. They pay no wages or benefits; patrons pay dancers with fees and tips. But clubs extract entry fees from dancers who work; require them to rent dressing rooms and stage time; and compel them to share tips with DJs, emcees, house moms, bouncers and bartenders. By transmuting employment into tenant and contractor relationships, clubs monetize a dancer’s body and labor into phony assets to pay wage-substituting tips to her co-workers.

This is a labor version of the share economy. I apply concepts related to the share economy to an increasingly transient and rootless workforce.

Does this model violate wage laws? My research identified 75 federal and state court rulings on wage claims by exotic dancers. In 38 cases, courts ruled that dancers were employees; only 3 courts ruled that dancers were independent contractors. Winning 93% of these misclassification rulings, dancers were awarded minimum wages, overtime, and liquidated damages. In 34 other cases, courts ruled on procedural motions. Nearly half (47%) of these rulings occurred in 2014 or 2015, suggesting this litigation is growing. 

This study is part of an ongoing project that quantifies occupations, industries, and court rulings for misclassified work. These industries and jobs include telecommunications (cable and fiber optic installers); cleaning services (maids and janitors); protective services (security guards and police) construction (drywall installers, window and door installers, carpenters, painters, HVAC technicians, and welders); health care (nurses  and ultrasound technicians); distribution (warehouse workers and package delivery workers ); local transportation (school bus drivers, cabbies, and ride share drivers); and others (garment workers and grocery baggers).

Companies frequently offer individuals illusory ownership. By entering into independent contractor agreements, strip clubs, Uber, and other firms shift their business costs to workers while avoiding wages and related taxes. Strip clubs charge dancers for use of their working space; Uber requires drivers to pay for their cell phone accessibility to its dispatching system. Strip clubs, Uber and others pay no employment related taxes, health insurance, unemployment and worker’s compensation.

Dancers and other workers increasingly realize they labor under a false construct of independent contracting. The litigation success of dancers, which bodes well for other misclassified workers, lends credence to Margaret Meade’s precept: “Every time we liberate a woman, we liberate a man.”