Quansa Thompson, an exotic dancer in Washington D.C., is suing her former employer, The House, in U.S. District Court, citing the the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 – claiming the club didn't pay her like the full-time employee she was.
Thompson was fired from The House last summer after threatening to sue the owner because of a dispute over being charged for not showing up to work. According to this article from The Washington Post, "The House paid her and the other dancers $20 for showing up each day, with the understanding that they could keep their tips after they paid the management a couple of fees — $20 to the DJ, $20 to the bartender. If a dancer was late to the stage, Thompson said, the club charged a $10 penalty. The fine for missing a shift was $80, even if it was because of an illness, which is what Thompson claimed when she didn't show up for work one night last year. 'Why would I have to pay you when you know I'm ill?' she asked her boss."
This article appears in Mar 17-23, 2010.