Seven former employees of the now-defunct Peaches Gentleman's Club in Jacksonville were awarded $281,438 altogether in damages Thursday for the club owners' violations of federal labor laws.
That was about $61,000 less than the workers had sought, while their former employers -- club owners Danny Martindill and his ex-wife, Casey Martindill -- claimed they owed nothing.
In a 13-page order, U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright determined that the workers -- four exotic dancers, a bouncer, a disc jockey and a bartender -- were each entitled to sums ranging from $11,696 to $128,211 for wages they weren't paid while working at the club at various times between Nov. 1, 2009, and Oct. 31, 2011.
The seven were plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in 2012 by attorney Josh Sanford of Little Rock, who simultaneously filed lawsuits against several area clubs who classified their dancers as "independent contractors" to avoid paying them minimum wage and overtime as the Fair Labor Standards Act requires for "employees."
The lawsuits were part of a wave of litigation across the country that has resulted in many courts classifying exotic dancers as employees entitled to the protection of federal labor laws.
In February, Wright issued a default judgment against the Martindills after they repeatedly failed to respond to the lawsuit despite her granting them several extensions. That left them liable for damages, but the amount they owed to each plaintiff had to be determined through a hearing in July.
At the hearing, Wright heard testimony from each of the plaintiffs as well as both Martindills. The plaintiffs were Nicole Collins, a dancer at Peaches during the entire 3-year period covered by the lawsuit; Rachel Hillman, who danced at the club for 43 weeks ending Nov. 30, 2010; Stacy Jackson, a dancer for 25 weeks until May 31, 2010; and Casi Hudson, who danced for 22 weeks until July 31, 2010. Hudson also worked as a waitress and a bartender for part of that time.
The other plaintiffs were Chris Cruthis, Marcus Stevens and Erin Townsend, who worked at Peaches as a bouncer, a disc jockey and a bartender, respectively.
Wright's order noted that the dancers worked more than 40 hours a week, earned money solely from tips and paid a "shift fee" of $20 to $30 each night to the club, which was located at 2221 W. Main St. and was operated by a corporation Danny Martindill owned called Barney's Barn Inc., which had annual gross revenue exceeding $500,000. She said the other plaintiffs worked more than 40 hours a week and were paid a flat fee per shift that "fell short of FLSA minimum wage and overtime requirements."
The federal labor law generally requires an employer to pay an employee a minimum hourly wage of $7.25 and overtime at the rate of 11/2 times the hourly rate for all hours worked beyond 40 hours a week.
Each plaintiff sought compensation for the number of minimum-wage hours they worked, minus what they were paid, as well as overtime. The dancers also sought reimbursement for the shift fees they paid to the club.
Wright found that both Martindills qualified as employers of the plaintiffs, and that each "willfully" violated the federal labor law, entitling the plaintiffs to collect damages for a 3-year period instead of the usual two years set by the statute of limitations.
She refused to grant the club owners credit for tips the workers received, saying that only applies when an employer informs an employee that it is using the credit against the minimum wage. She also denied the plaintiffs' request to recover "shift fees," noting that "there is simply no evidence that [the Martindills] collected, retained or used the [dancers'] tip money."
The amounts Wright awarded included liquidated damages -- or a doubling of the amount of actual damages, which she said is mandatory when the employer cannot show that it acted in good faith.
"In this case," she wrote, "the Court finds that [the Martindills] failed to offer any evidence that they acted in good faith or with reasonable grounds for believing that the employment compensation practices at issue complied with the mandates of the FLSA."
Metro on 09/12/2014