Mothers Finest misclassified dancers, failed to pay full wages, took fees from tips
WICHITA, KS – The U.S. Department of Labor filed a federal lawsuit on Jan. 6, 2025, as part of its ongoing effort to recover wages and damages for 80 female entertainers of a Wichita gentlemen’s club that allegedly failed to pay full wages, illegally deducted fees from their tips and required them to reimburse the employer if litigation or an investigation ever recovered lost wages for the dancers.
The litigation follows after an investigation by the department’s Wage and Hour Division found Pleasures and its operator, Mother’s Finest LTD, misclassified dancers as independent contractors that deprived them of overtime and other benefits and protections, made illegal deductions from dancers’ tips and allegedly had dancers sign contracts with a clause forcing them to kick back lost wages recovered by litigation or an investigation.
Filed in the U.S. District Court of Kansas in Wichita, the complaint seeks back wages and an equal amount of liquidated damages for the 80 dancers and asks the court to restrain Pleasures from illegal retaliation against its employees and forbidding the company from violating the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“There are very specific rules that determine if a worker is an independent contractor or an employee. In this case, Pleasures acted as an employer because they set work hours, schedules and terms of the dancers’ contract,” explained Wage and Hour Division District Director Reed Trone in Kansas City, Missouri. “The department will always fight for workers, especially those who may not know their rights under federal law and hold employers accountable.”
“Employers cannot require workers to ‘kick back’ wages they might receive as a result of litigation against the employer,” said Regional Solicitor of Labor Christine Z. Heri in Chicago. “We are asking the court to hold this employer accountable for this improper practice and its violation of federal wage laws.”
Learn more about the Wage and Hour Division, including a search tool to use if you think you may be owed back wages collected by the division and how to file an online complaint. For confidential compliance assistance, employees and employers can call the agency’s toll-free helpline at 866-4US-WAGE (487-9243), regardless of where they are from. The division can speak with callers in more than 200 languages.
Download the agency’s Timesheet App for iOS and Android devices – available in English and Spanish – to ensure hours and pay are accurate.
DOL v. Mother’s Finest LTD operating as Pleasures
Civil Action No.: 6:25-cv-01002
