Stripper Bill of Rights and its Impact on New York
A recent “strippers” bill of rights has passed in the state of Washington recently. Although no other state has passed a similar law, this has the potential to create shockwaves throughout the adult entertainment industry. The “strippers” bill of rights requires that strip clubs have security guards, keypads with lock codes for dressing rooms, sexual harassment training and procedures on how to deal with unruly clientele. The message behind it is clear – dancers’ safety is always of the the utmost importance. However, what does this mean for the other states?
Labor Practices and Worker Classification
One of the main points of the Strippers Bill of Rights is classifying the dancers as employees instead of independent contractors. This drives up expenses for the strip club because now they are required to provide certain things such as minimum wage, overtime pay, and healthcare. If this happened in New York, many businesses may consider shutting down because not too many strip clubs can operate with that type of business model. The current business model of operating with a house fee provides flexibility for both the dancer and club.
Workplace Safety and Harassment Prevention
The Stripper Bill of Rights also extends safety in the workplace. Most strip clubs in New York already have some of the highest levels of security because it is well known that crowded cities produce more violent criminals. Its probably that in the great state of Washington that there are some smaller strip clubs who don’t have that much security because the owner wants to save money. This would not be an issue in New York.
Privacy Rights and Freedom of Expression
Once again this would apply more to small town strip clubs as opposed to the larger strip clubs in New York City. The Stripper Bill of Rights prevents any unauthorized surveillance or exploitation. Safety is, of course, once again the highest importance. At many New York City strip clubs, patrons would be thrown out right away if they were caught filming or photographing a stripper. For the few strip clubs that rely on photography to generate revenue, this could become a potential hit for them financially.
Legal Protections and Accountability
The bill also requires strip clubs to help dancers in case of exploitation, wage theft or unfair treatment. Legal protection for dancers can become costly. For New York this could be quite detrimental as legal protection for dancers can become quite expensive quite quickly.
Although the Stripper Bill of Rights is great for passing in Washington, it does not seem that it will be passed in any other states anytime soon. It is great that it is there to help advocate for the safety of the dancers but for other parts, such as classifying the dancers as employees instead of independent contractors, may be too costly for it to gain support in other states. New York is one of those states that already has strict stripper laws so it is unlikley a Stripper Bill of rights will pass in the Big Apple anytime soon.
