Is a lap dancer an employee?
No, the Court of Appeal has decided.
The deciding factor was that the lap dancer was not paid by the club but was remunerated entirely through tips from customers. Therefore she ran the risk of not being paid anything or even incurring a loss. This meant she was not an employee.
Nadine Quashie worked as a lap dancer at clubs run by Stringfellows. In 2008, Stringfellows informed her they would not to use her in the future. She brought a claim for unfair dismissal, a claim that is only available to employees.
The Court of Appeal noted that Ms Quashie was remunerated entirely through tips from customers. She took the economic risk of being out of pocket after a night’s work, which was a powerful indicator that she was not an employee.
CASE Stringfellows Restaurants Ltd v Nadine Quashie, Court of Appeal, 2012
Photo: “Belly dancer” by Flikr user Peter Just used under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license