MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — A federal judge has signed off on the $1.5 million settlement of a collective action lawsuit between a South Carolina gentlemen’s club and a group of nearly 30 dancers and other employees who alleged they had been shorted on overtime pay, among other issues.
U.S. District Judge Bruce H. Hendricks granted "final approval between the Master’s gentlemen’s club and a class of current and former dancers and entertainers who performed at the Myrtle Beach adult entertainment club" between December 4, 2010 and February 7, 2019, according to a media report.
The settlement includes $500,000 in attorney fees and nearly $83,000 in expenses and requires the club to change its policies for its entertainers and dancers.
The dancers and entertainers had claimed the club avoided paying minimum wage by describing them as independent contractors instead of employees. Plaintiffs claimed the club “flouted the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the South Carolina Payment of Wages Act (SCPWA). The suit said dancers weren’t paid proper overtime or minimum wage and that they wrongly had part of their tips taken away.”
The dancers additionally paid a “house fee” to perform at the club, they were fined if they showed up late and had to share their tips with “other club workers and contractors like disc jockeys and bouncers” and hand over to the club a portion of their fee for “individual services” such as lap dances.
Judge Hendricks, in 2015, "trimmed the suit’s SCPWA claim" and declined to certify the case as a class action under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 23. He did, however, find the club’s dancers to be employees under the FLSA and certified the case as a "collective" action and granted the "Rule 23 class certification on the SCPWA improper deduction allegation." Following preliminary approval in February, a notice was issued to over 740 class members.