BROOKHAVEN, Ga. — Employees at one of metro Atlanta’s most well-known gentlemen’s clubs claim they are having to pay sometimes hundreds of dollars a night just to be there.
A former Pink Pony dancer has filed a federal collective-action lawsuit alleging dancers received no wages and were required to pay hundreds of dollars in fees every night to work, a practice she claims illegally pushed earnings below minimum wage.
Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray obtained a copy of the complaint, which says dancers were required to pay a nightly house fee that allegedly ranged from $60 to $532 per shift, depending on their earnings.
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Former dancer Heather West filed a collective action lawsuit against Trop, Inc., operator of the Pink Pony in Brookhaven, along with CEO Michael Kap, CFO Dennis Williams, and night manager Eddie Stone. The suit seeks to represent all current and former dancers who worked at the club during the past three years.
The complaint says “Plaintiff, individually, and the collective she represents, were not paid wages for any work time on the premises.”
It includes as an exhibit that allegedly shows a picture posted on the wall showing the amounts dancers have to pay the club based on their tips.
Someone making only $60 would have to pay all of it to the Pink Pony, talking home nothing.
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“It’s just, fundamentally unfair and a violation of the law. It doesn’t have to be this way. Not every nightclub not every exotic dance club does this,” said Jonah Flynn, an attorney representing West.
Similar lawsuits have been filed in the past three months against the Pink Pony by a bartender and a “house mom” alleging the club also improperly took a large percentage of their tips.
Pink Pony has filed a response to one of the lawsuits denying the claims.
An attorney for the club denied to comment since these are active federal cases, but Kap, the club’s owner, later provided some comment to Channel 2 Action News.
In a series of messages to Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray, Kap disputed the allegations in the lawsuit.
“They are commissioned sales employees selling entertainment,” Kapp said. He told Gray that after several clubs faced federal lawsuits back in 2019, he changed the way he pays staff.
In a public social media message Kap wrote:
“We pay our girls $7.25 an hour minimum wage,” Kapp continued. “We did get sued in the past and we changed our whole system six years ago just like every other club in Atlanta.”
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