By Jason Albright, J.D.
After the plaintiff sued their employer for allegedly misclassifying its dancers, one of the strip club’s partners, a manager, canceled an agreement for the dancer to perform at another club he managed.
Although the FLSA requires an underlying employment relationship, it covers retaliation committed by the employer or “any person acting directly or indirectly in the interest of an employer in relation to an employee,” the Ninth Circuit held. In a case involving a dancer at a Portland strip club whose agreement to perform weekly at another club was cancelled after they sued the first club and its managers under the FLSA, the appeals court found that a district court erred in holding that the dancer must have been employed by the second club when its manager—who was also a manager of the first club—engaged in the alleged retaliation (Hollis v. R&R Restaurants, Inc., No. 24-2464 (9th Cir. Nov. 18, 2025)).
Dancer at Sassy’s. The plaintiff, who prefers gender-neutral pronouns, according to the court, danced at a Portland strip club called Sassy’s approximately three to five times a week from June 2017 until March 2019, pursuant to a contract purporting to designate them as an independent contractor. No special training, licenses, experience, or skills were required to dance at Sassy’s, although dancers briefly auditioned for a manager. A manager provided them with a weekly schedule every Sunday, based partly on their and the other dancers’ interest...
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