Business & Tech
Valley Stripper Claims Club Required Her To Have Sex With Customers
In a lawsuit, the woman alleges managers pressured her to have sex with clients, demanded a cut of her tips and sexually abused dancers.
LOS ANGELES, CA — A former employee of a Sun Valley strip club is suing the business, alleging she was fired for objecting to her workplace conditions, which included having sex with up to seven men nightly while also giving them private lap dances.
Diana Receba Sabillon Romero's Los Angeles Superior Court allegations against the La Vida Gentleman's Club include wrongful termination, sexual harassment, retaliation, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the state Labor Code. She seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, plus an injunction "ordering the continuing unfair business acts and practices to cease," as the court deems just and proper.
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When a man who answered the phone at La Vida on Monday was asked about Romero's claims, he replied, "I don't know her."
Find out what's happening in Northridge-Chatsworthfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Romero was employed at the Penrose Street club from Aug. 10 through her early September firing and was paid from $25 to $500 per dance, often working 12 or more hours per day, six days per week, the suit states.
From her first day on the job, three club managers began sexually harassing Romero while often touching her, the suit states.
"Further, her managers forced her to do private dances for customers and to have sex with the customers, sometimes as many as six or seven men in one day," the suit states.
If Romero disobeyed, her managers made her work double shifts or would reduce her hours, according to the suit.
Romero reported the managers to the club owner, who did nothing, and she was fired when she refused to enter a room where the managers would usually abuse the dancers, according to the suit. She also objected to her managers' demands she pay them $100 of her customer tips, the suit states.
Romero believes she was fired because of her complaints about sexual harassment, the suit states. She also maintains she was not paid for all hours worked, including some 48 hours of weekly overtime, and that she was not given meal and rest breaks.
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