Strippers Can Claim Unemployment: Will Kansas Supreme Court Ruling Really Help Exotic Dancers?

Lap dancers can now get unemployment and will not be considered as independent contractors, said a recent ruling by the Kansas Supreme Court.

The ruling comes seven years after a Club Orleans dancer in Topeka filed for unemployment insurance. The entertainers earn cash through tips. The club, however, claimed that it offered rental space for the dancer to perform and she was not its employee. But, it is mandatory for the dancers to follow the house rules - a reason which the Kansas Supreme Court cited to rule  that the dancers are eligible for unemployment benefits.

According to ABC News reports, the fact that the dancers get a stipulated amount of money for particular dances and have to abide by the rules for interacting with customers can be taken as company rules, argued the Kansas Department of Labor.

However, for Michael Merriam, the attorney for the club, the court's ruling was "incorrectly decided."

"The court relied almost entirely on the fact that we had some house rules which were requested by the dancers. They were designed to keep everything legal," Merriam told ABC News. "And the court relied on that fact alone to say we had control over them and that made them employees."

His client does not plan to appeal the decision, the attorney informed.

But, how far this ruling will help the exotic dancers? Bubbles Burbujas, a dancer and blogger told Salon.com that the money earned by a dancer can be considered as money paid to the club for a service and therefore, the club gets to decide on the amount the dancer will keep.

"In every club where one of these lawsuits has succeeded, the end result has been that the amount the dancers pay out to the club increased."

It is a no-win situation here.

"There's really no winning here, and that isn't a failing of the clubs," she said. "It's a failing of labor law and its enforcement in this country."

Now all eyes will be on Kansas to see how well the ruling goes for the exotic dancers once it is implemented.

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