Dancers at Rick’s Cabaret International Inc. were ruled to be employees entitled to receive a minimum wage and should not have been improperly treated as independent contractors in violation of federal and state labor laws by U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer  from the Southern District of New York.

He ruled that since Rick’s “regulated almost every aspect of the dancers’ behavior within the club,” tips received by the dancers “cannot be used to satisfy Rick’s statutory wage obligations.”