L.A. ‘hostess’ dancers sue for wage violations, harassment

A group of dancers at a Los Angeles “hostess club” are suing for wage-and-hour violations, claiming the owners of Club 907 also subjected them to “exploitative, substandard and degrading working conditions.”

At L.A.’s hostess clubs, patrons pay women to dance with them. By law, nudity is prohibited, although police have targeted several hostess clubs in prostitution stings.

The Club 907 dancers claim they were paid only for the minutes they actually danced with patrons, although they allege that they were required to work a minimum of 36 hours per week and often worked more than eight hours per day and 40 hours per week. They say they weren’t paid overtime.

The lawsuit also accuses the owners of failing to keep adequate records of the employees’ time worked, provide accurate wage statements and provide required meal and rest breaks. The dancers say the owners unlawfully deducted the wages of dancers who left work early, and required them to reimburse the club for shortages when patrons failed to pay.

The lawsuit also alleges the owners videotaped dancers while they changed clothes, sexually harassed them and did not protect them from patrons’ unwelcome sexual behavior.