A group of angry ex-strippers has scored some serious lap-dance cash after the owners of three high-end Manhattan jiggle joints agreed to settle a $4.3 million class-action lawsuit, new court records show.
The exotic dancers claimed they were denied legal wages and forced to follow a long and bizarre list of rules — including a ban on gum chewing and glitter.
“We are satisfied with the settlement and I think the other side is also,” one of the plaintiffs’ lawyers, Justin Swartz, told The Post.
Melody Flynn of Brooklyn and Martina Antoinette de Truff of Manhattan reached a settlement in a class-action, unfair-wages lawsuit they filed last year in Manhattan federal court against the management at New York Dolls, FlashDancers and Private Eyes, according to court papers filed Monday night.
The settlement deal, which still must be approved by Judge Ronald Ellis, includes the $4.3 million payoff on the suit filed on behalf of at least 250 strippers who have worked at those clubs since 2007. Ellis will hold a hearing on the planned settlement February 9.
The suit alleged the strip joints unfairly made dancers “maintain at least three sets of uniforms — two gowns and one swimsuit — for each shift worked.” The gals were also allegedly prohibited from “using glitter and/or heavy perfume,” “carrying cellphones on the dance floor” and “chewing gum while at work.”
The work rules were included in the suit to bolster claims that father-and-son owners Barry Lipsitz and Barry Lipsitz Jr. illegally misclassified their dancers as “independent contractors” in order to deny them minimum wage and overtime payments. Under the employment arrangement, dancers allegedly had to pay “house fees” to work and the clubs retained some of their tips when customers paid via credit card or “dance dollar” vouchers bought in advance.
Jeffrey Kimmel, a lawyer representing the clubs, declined to comment.
The biggest winners in the settlement could be the dancers’ lawyers, who are eligible through the expected deal to apply for up to 30 percent — or $1.29 million — of the settlement fund to cover their legal fees, expenses and other costs, records show.
Eligible dancers who join the class-action suit will be paid based on how many months they worked at the clubs since September 2007. The average payment per eligible dancer is expected to be $11,086, with Flynn and de Truff making another $10,000 for heading the lawsuit, the agreement says.
The suit was filed in September 2013 only days after Manhattan federal Judge Paul Engelmayer cited similar work rules as evidence that rival club Rick’s Cabaret misclassified its dancers as independent contractors. Former strippers at Rick’s alleged the club violated federal and state labor laws by failing to pay them a salary.