The 6,600 performers at Las Vegas’ Sapphire Gentlemen’s Club—self-described as the “World’s Largest Strip Club”—came out on top last week in a legal battle over their eligibility for workers’ compensation coverage and better pay.
Sapphire’s exotic dancers were not classified as “employees,” but rather “independent contractors” and were not given either workers’ comp benefits or pay befitting Nevada’s minimum hourly wage. Rather, dancers were expected to rely on tips and other dancing fees supplied by the club’s patrons.
The Nevada State Supreme Court struck that down Thursday, ruling that the performers are technically employees and as such, should be guaranteed a minimum wage consistent with state laws as well as full access to workers’ compensation.
Employees are “persons in the service of an employer under any appointment or contract of hire or apprenticeship, express or implied, oral or written, whether lawfully or unlawfully employed,” the Court ruled.
The Court went on to conclude:
“Give that Sapphire bills itself as the ‘World’s Largest Strip Club,’ and not, say, a sports bar or night club, we are confident that the women strip-dancing there are useful and indeed necessary to the operation.”
This overturned a District Court judge, who considered the performers independent contractors.
The Nevada minimum wage is $8.25 an hour, though service employees may make less in exchange for the chance to earn tips. The trial judge is now deciding how much current and former performers will be paid in back wages.
