Strippers unemployment: Kansas court rules exotic dancers can collect unemployment

Exotic dancers have the right to collect unemployment insurance as employees and not independent contractors, the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled.

According to Yahoo.com the ruling said the strippers are employees because they had to follow a number of house rules and also that the employers must contribute to the state’s unemployment insurance fund.

The decision stemmed from a 2005 case in which a dancer at a club in Topeka filed an unemployment claim.

According to Yahoo’s report, the dancers earn money through tips while the club maintains it is offering “rental space” for the women to perform.

The Kansas Department of Labor argued that the minimum rates for some dances and rules regarding interactions with customers could be interpreted as rules for employees.

An attorney for the company that owned Club Orleans reportedly told ABC News the ruling “was incorrectly decided.”

The ruling apparently applies just to the workers at issue in this case, according to a spokeswoman with the Kansas Department of Labor.