The strip club Cloakroom Gentlemen’s Club is being sued by the D.C. Attorney General’s Office over claims it created a “hostile and exploitative work environment” for female employees, which included subjecting them to sexual harassment, physical abuse and retaliation when speaking up.
The D.C. Attorney General’s Office said in speaking with employees, prosecutors discovered club management stole “hundreds of thousands of dollars in tips and wages from employees” by cutting how much they should have received in tips and forcing them to clock out before they were done working.
“Cloakroom also forces entertainers to clock out prior to nightly, mandatory ‘post-shift’ meetings that regularly last 30-60 minutes, failing to pay them anything for this time,” D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb said in a news release.
The female employees also alleged they were inappropriately touched while working at the K Street establishment and required in some instances by a manager to perform sex acts to take sick leave, according to Dennis Corkery, the assistant chief of the Workers’ Rights and Anti-Fraud Section.
“Not being given sick leave, that’s a clear violation of D.C. law, but then the added indignity of asking for sexual favors to access such a fundamental right, as being able to take paid sick leave, is really abhorrent,” Corkery told WTOP.
Named in the lawsuit were the club’s owners, Antonios Cavasilios and Carlos Horcasitas.
“On at least one occasion, Cavasilios himself sexually assaulted a club employee. None of the club’s male employees experience this type of mistreatment and abuse,” the release stated.
“Employees have been fired for inquiring about their pay rate, insulted for requesting time off, and even put in physical danger, as managers will retaliate by refusing to call security when an employee is harassed or threatened by patrons, a common occurrence at the venue,” the lawsuit claims.
“We will put an end to this type of exploitative combination of sexual harassment and wage theft,” Schwalb added.
The lawsuit also claims Cloakroom deceived customers, through a Cloakroom-branded fake currency called “Cloakbucks” which customers use to tip employees, and the establishment would hold onto 10% of the tips received when they were converted back to cash.
“Cloakroom discontinued this practice during OAG’s investigation,” the office said.
Corkery said the office is looking for “restitution for the survivors of the abuse” in addition to back wages and payments for the workers. The lawsuit also seeks to bring the business into compliance with civil rights, consumer protection and employment laws.
A representative with Cloakroom DC said it is currently reviewing the allegations in the lawsuit.
“We look forward to proving in court that we run an upstanding District business providing top-notch service to our customers and treat our employees with professionalism and dignity,” Cloakroom DC said in a statement.
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