SPRINGFIELD – No clothes, no minimum wage and no overtime either. A group of exotic dancers has filed an unfair wages lawsuit in Hampden Superior Court against officers of five area strip clubs, arguing owners paid them no salaries, expected $40 to $100 kickbacks per shift and otherwise denied them standard worker benefits.

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A trio of dancers, two disc jockeys and two bartenders recently brought a class-action lawsuit against "Mardi Gras Entertainment Inc." and three corporate officers, according to the complaint: James Santaniello and wife Helen Santaniello, both of Longmeadow, and Anthony Santaniello, of Springfield.



Though that corporate name has since changed to The Worthington Shops, the lawsuit states it is the parent company for five clubs: the Mardi Gras, Lace, Fifth Alarm and Center Stage, all in Springfield, and Anthony's Dance Club in South Hadley.



The class-action complaint follows similar lawsuits across the state challenging strip club compensation – which seems a system unto itself – under Massachusetts labor laws.



Three plaintiffs in the local lawsuit, Madeline Ruiz, of Bristol, Conn., Paula Massa, of Springfield, and Andrea Walshaw, of Tampa, Fla., argue they were full-time employees who were classified as independent contractors so owners could dodge worker benefits such as overtime pay and wages.



Tod A. Cochran, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said dancers were expected to pay between $40 and $100 per shift to the owners. He estimates hundreds of dancers perform at all five clubs.



"That's not legal under any circumstances," said plaintiffs' lawyer Tod A. Cochran. "They called it a tip-out fee and it was higher for the better shifts.



Cochran also said the "independent contractor" label given to most employees at the clubs fails under fair labor practices law, and particularly so with the dancers.



The definition of an employee under state law says that an employer cannot exert control over a non-employee, according to Cochran, and that an independent contractor cannot work at the core of an employer's enterprise.



However, the dancers said working for the Santaniellos was much more of a grind.



Cochran said "the girls" at the five area clubs had to agree not to perform anywhere else, had to conform to owners' standards of wardrobe and music and follow other rules – all of which discount them from the contractor category.



A lawyer for the corporation would not comment on the details of the lawsuit.



"The company vigorously denies both the factual allegations and the legal claims and will respond in court in due course," attorney Barry Miller, of Boston, said.



As an aside, businessman James Santaniello has always denied ownership of those bars and others, with his name conspicuously absent from corporate records. He did not return a call for comment on Tuesday.



Disc jockeys Robert Bruso, of Springfield, and Robert Glavin, of Worcester also say in the complaint that they were denied wages. Cochran said club owners tired of paying their salaries and passed the expense along to the dancers, who began paying "tip-outs."



"Then the club decided it was too generous, so the club then decided they should give the DJ tip out to the club, and the owners would give them some of that money, not all of it," Cochran said. "When they complained the club fired them."



Bruso began working at the Mardi Gras in 1995, and said he was fired last year.



"The more money that was coming in, Jimmy realized the more money he could take, so he started charging us for everything," Bruso said. "It went from, like, a perfect state of capitalism – mutual trade for mutual profit – to a form of thievery."



A lawyer for James Santaniello previously described Bruso as a disgruntled ex-employee with an ax to grind.



Former bartenders, Maureen Rushby, of West Springfield and Jessica Taylor, of South Hadley were paid minimum wage but also were charged a $25 "house fee" per shift – which could push their pay below the minimum depending on the shift.



Cochran concedes similar practices go on at most strip clubs, but he believes adult entertainment workers are starting to wake up to employment rights. Plaintiffs prevailed in a similar class-action suit against King Arthur's Lounge in Chelsea, and at least one other lawsuit is pending against a club in Salisbury.



