A Birmingham, Alabama strip club is being hit with another lawsuit from former employees.
AL.com reports that three ex-dancers filed the lawsuit on Monday (Aug. 11), accusing The Furnace of refusing to pay its dancers minimum wage and overtime, in turn breaking the Fair Labor Standards Act.
“During their time being employed by Defendants, Plaintiffs were denied minimum wage payments and denied overtime as part of Defendants’ scheme to classify Plaintiffs and other dancers/entertainers as independent contractors,” the lawsuit says.
The dancers also alleged that The Furnace took their tips and demanded illegal kickbacks via house fees. The three employees are seeking $100,000 in damages, a jury trial, and more.
The lawsuit arrived over a year after the same strip club settled a lawsuit for the same claims. Dancers alleged, in the suit filed in 2021, that they weren’t paid minimum wage or overtime, and had to partake in illegal kickbacks. The Furnace settled the lawsuit in February 2024 to the tune of $1.25 million.
The 19 former workers who filed the complaint were paid from the $1.25 million based on “an approximation of the time Plaintiffs worked but were not paid minimum wage.”
