Are Strippers Ever Non-Employees?
Earlier posts on the site suggest that dancers who work in clubs are always employees, because the nature of a club atmosphere and because dancers are integral to the business. Later posts suggest that if a club takes away enough Economic Realities rules, perhaps a true "lease holder" relationship is possible.
My advice to dancers suing their clubs, is that arbitrators and juries will not like ideologues who believe the former. They may think you are a wingnut. When testifying, you will be asked about this. It is up to you how you want to accurately navigate answering this question.
If you are working at a new club that knows about your past litigation, the club will intentionally allow you to do whatever you want, to create the idea that you are a contractor/lease holder, and that their club is different than the others you have sued. Clubs have done this to me, so that lawyers won't risk representing me. After time goes by, the club will either terminate me or encourage dancer-scabs to harass and assault me so much that I leave because it is too dangerous to stay. As time goes by, it becomes increasingly difficult to keep a job in the industry while maintaining mental/emotional well-being.
We Are Dancers (WADUSA.org) and Codi Schei are investing much of their energy into promoting the idea that every dancer should be a "small business" and not an employee. Codi Schei, as mentioned in a previous post, is a bougie Downer's Grove person. She does full service sex work and has worked in clubs that misclassify dancers, as well as clubs that are brothels. I consider Codi Schei a Trojan Horse to the issues of Stripper Labor Rights. My advice to dancers new to labor rights, is that it's totally OK for you to not want to work in a brothel or not want to be around a bunch of scabs who don't understand misclassification. Groups like SWOP would disagree with dancers like me on that issue, but fuck 'em.
Lusty Lady Lounge is still the only stripper workplace to have successfully unionized. Most people from Lusty Lady will tell you that however many rules a club takes away on the Economic Realities Test, dancers will always be employees. I may have interpersonal problems with my West coast associations, but still understand how powerful their writing can be. Thanks, Lusty Ladies, for showing what can be possible when educated dancers come together against oppressors and stand up for themselves. Here is a great guide for newcomers: