DENVER/LOS ANGELES—A district judge in Denver, Colorado, ruled Monday that strip club entertainers, such as dancers, are classified as employees and are subject to the city's sweeping labor protections and the minimum hourly wage requirements for all who work in the consolidated city and county.
This court ruling upholds a determination issued by a hearing officer under the Denver Auditor's Office in response to wage theft investigations at multiple Denver strip clubs, including popular clubs like the city's affiliate of Rick's Cabaret, PT's Showclub, PT's Showclub Centerfold, and the Diamond Cabaret.
Attorneys representing the strip clubs indicate that the entertainers were exempt from specific wage and employment laws within Denver's jurisdiction. Nonetheless, the recent ruling solidifies the Auditor's Office's claims that strippers and erotic performers in Denver are entitled to wage and work protections.
“Our office enforces wage theft laws for all industries and protects anyone performing work in Denver. Adult entertainment workers are no different, and we are pleased the courts agree,” said Timothy M. O’Brien, the elected city auditor whose office oversees Denver Labor, in a press statement.
Denver Labor investigates and audits employment and wage compliance through law enforcement, education and certified audits, according to local reports.
"Entertainers are workers and, therefore, are entitled to the fundamental protections of Denver’s wage ordinances," notes an informational page on O'Brien's website. "However, they are also at high risk of wage theft."
Matthew Fritz-Mauer, executive director of Denver Labor, added in the same aforementioned press statement, "The strip clubs have tried every tactic to avoid paying these workers properly and to dodge their wage responsibility. Even if it means creating new legal arguments that lack evidence or are contradictory."
The Auditor's Office also noted that it continues to seek to recover nearly $14 million in restitution from two strip clubs. Denver Labor found earlier this year that the two clubs, Diamond Cabaret and Rick's Cabaret, committed wage theft, victimizing 230 workers, including dancers, bartenders and servers.
KUSA, a local NBC affiliate in Denver, reported that the four clubs appealed the rulings against them to a higher state court, arguing the district judge "failed to address key claims underlying Denver Labor's illegal and unauthorized investigations outside its lawful purview of internal city auditing."
