A North Huntingdon exotic dancer wants a local adult night club to pay her more than $58,000 in back wages and damages she says she is owed because the club misclassified her employment status.
Deanna Betras, 41, alleges the owners of the former The Filly Corral in South Huntingdon — Oli-Car Inc. — violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law by controlling the workplace environment as if she were an employee and not permitting her to work at other clubs.
Instead, the owners listed her as an independent contractor to avoid paying at least minimum wage and overtime when she danced more than 40 hours a week, according to a federal lawsuit filed in July in Pittsburgh. Betras danced at The Filly Corral off and on from 2007 to March 2020, when the club closed because of pandemic-related restrictions, according to the suit.
Betras declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Thomas Oliver, secretary-treasurer of the defunct The Filly Corral, would not comment on specifics contained in the lawsuit. He said the club operated as other adult clubs did, with the dancers working as independent contractors. The club did not exert control over the dancers, Oliver said.
“She is suing a defunct organization. There is no money (to pay a judgment). I don’t care what she does,” Oliver said.
The Filly Corral closed Feb. 28, Oliver said. The Filly Gentlemen’s Club opened March 1 at the same site, near truck stops off the Smithton exit of Interstate 70....
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