I learned there’s a chain of strip clubs called the Spearmint Rhino. I didn’t know that was an option for rhinos. The rhinos I’ve seen at the zoo smell nothing like spearmint.

This club was paying its dancers as independent contractors. As we’ve seen in other “exotic dancer” cases, that can be an expensive decision.

This time it cost The Rhino $8.5 million. A class of 8,000 ladies reached a deal after claiming they should have been treated as employees under Caliufornia and federal wage and hour laws. The class members claimed they were denied overtime, denied a minimum wage, denied meal and rest breaks, and had their tips misappropriated.

In other words, they didn’t feel like they had much to dance about.

What happens now to The Rhino? Does it reclassify its dancers as employees? Who knows. Who cares.

I will, however, be asking the zoo if there’s anything they can do about the rhino smell. It seems there may be a minty version of the beast.

For more information on independent contractor issues and other labor and employment developments to watch in 2018, join me in Cincinnati on March 28 for the 2018 BakerHostetler Master Class on Labor Relations and Employment Law: A Time for Change. Attendance is complimentary, but advance registration is required. Please email me if you plan to attend, tlebowitz@bakerlaw.com, and list my name in your RSVP so I can be sure to look for you.

© 2018 Todd Lebowitz, posted on WhoIsMyEmployee.com, Exploring Issues of Independent Contractor Misclassification and Joint Employment. All rights reserved.