Some people just don’t appreciate art. A U.S. District Court judge in Georgia has ruled that male strippers don’t qualify for exempt status as “creative professionals.”
Shocking, but true.
A group of current and former male strippers sued the owners of an adult nightclub, saying they were incorrectly classified as independent contractors and were entitled to at least minimum wage. The club owners disagreed, and claimed that the strippers wouldn’t be protected by the FLSA because they fell under the “creative professional exemption.”
The official description of the exemption:
To qualify as a “creative professional,” an employee must be (i) compensated on a salary basis or fee basis at a rate of not less than $455 per week; and (ii) his or her primary duty must be the performance of work requiring invention, imagination, originality, or talent in a recognized field of artistic or creative endeavor.
And, alas, the strippers’ jobs just didn’t require that much creativity, the court said, citing the testimony of a club manager who said the dancers didn’t need any original moves and most of the dancers didn’t “know how to actually dance.”
Gotta admit, this is a pretty creative approach to try and maneuver around the FLSA. But these kinds of shenanigans rarely stand up in court.
The case continues. We’ll keep you posted.
Cite: Henderson v. 1400 Northside Dr.
