Tip Rules Also Protect Dancers

Recently, there has been a minor wave of litigation by exotic dancers claiming the nightclubs that employed them stole their tips. As discussed in this Boston Globe article, the suits generally argue that dancers are employees and not independent contractors and, therefore, are subject to the same wage and hour rules that protect other tipped employees such as restaurant servers. Many employers attempt to circumvent the law by misclassifying their workers as independent contractors, who are exempt from the Fair Labor Standards Act, rather than employees. At heart, the issue is one of control. If an employer has significant control over how a worker does his job, then that worker is an employee not a contractor.