NYC Nightclub The Box Settles Sex Harassment, Unpaid Wages Lawsuit

NEW YORK CITY — A bombshell federal lawsuit against famed Manhattan nightclub The Box that detailed accusations of rampant sexual harassment and forced sex with male clients has been settled, court records show.

Read more: Sex, Drugs Forced On Women Employees At Exclusive NYC Nightclub: Lawsuit

A former bottle server received an undisclosed amount in a settlement over her claims that the Lower East Side club's management allowed "customers to sexually harass and abuse her" and pressured her "to lure male customers to The Box so that they could be sexually serviced by others," according to court documents filed this week.

Male customers would be "serviced with sexual acts, sexual intercourse, drugs, and excessive alcohol by other women employees who had been forced to perform these acts" while the bottle server was promised 10 percent commission of the male clients' spending at the club per quarter, the woman's lawsuit contended.

“Defendants punished [the worker] when she tried to protect herself from sexual harassment, and told [her] to give male clients 'ANYthing they wanted,'" the amended November lawsuit filed in New York Southern District Court reads.

A separate settlement filed Monday gave the ex-waitress $20,000 out of $67,000 in pay she said the club owed her, records show. Her lawyers received $10,000, according to the records.

The scathing lawsuit named The Box's owner Simon Hammerstein — the grandson of famed American songsmith Oscar Hammerstein II — as well as Chief Operating Officer Javier Vivas, manager Giza Selimi and former manager Nenad Karac as defendants.

Representatives for The Box did not return multiple requests for comment.

The Box, which opened in 2007, is known for its racy cabaret performances and celebrity clientele including Miley Cyrus, Susan Sarandon, Doja Cat, Paris Hilton, Nicki Minaj, Elon Musk and Lindsay Lohan. Taylor Swift even celebrated her 34th birthday at the establishment in December.

The settled lawsuit isn't the only documented accusation of sexual harassment in the nightclub, either. A Patch review of NYPD sex abuse complaints at The Box found reports filed as recently as December 2023.

The lawsuit was first reported by Patch about two weeks before Lady Gaga canceled a party at the venue, a source familiar with the matter said. Page Six later reported Gaga canceled the event due to the allegations.

The settlements were reached during a second mediation session, which lasted about 12 hours, according to records.

The former waitress estimated she is owed over $10,000 in commission, per her complaint. The time spent searching for "clientele" two to three times a week for up to six hours per day was also uncompensated, though she was told she would be taken off the schedule if she did not do so.

The Box attorneys argued the waitress wasn’t eligible for any additional commission as part of the “short-lived commission structure” to “incentivize … employees to bring in more customers, men and women," according to settlement records.

In addition, waitresses were neither paid minimum wage required under the law nor overtime when ordered to stay with clients at the club as late as 7 a.m. during some shifts, the lawsuit contends.

The late nights weren't isolated incidents, according to city data. NYPD officers responded to reports of loud music at the venue past 6:30 a.m. as recently as November.

While The Box bosses claim the waitress isn't owed anything, the ex-server's contested wage and hour claims add up to about $67,443.84, attorneys for The Box wrote.

“The settlement sum of $30,000 is reasonable considering [the waitress’] claims and the defenses and records produced by [The Box bosses] in this matter,” attorneys said. The waitress’ legal fees alone amounted to over $37,000, according to documents filed in court.

"The court finds that all of the terms of the proposed settlement agreement (including the allocation of attorney's fees) appear to be fair and reasonable under the totality of the circumstances," U.S. Magistrate Judge James L. Cott wrote in the April 29 order, calling the agreement the "product of arm’s-length bargaining between experienced counsel."

A minimum wage-related class action for servers, bartenders and bussers who worked at the club from 2015 to 2021 was previously settled by management, as were twin lawsuits accusing management of wage theft and sexual harassment, according to court records.

Complaints about the performance space date back to at least 2008, when a pair of burlesque performers employed by The Box took to MySpace to detail a host of charges about the performance space and its ownership.

"The inhumane treatment of the artists and employees at the Box is appalling," the post read, as reported by The New York Times. Addressing one of the many charges from the MySpace grievance list, The Box's ownership told the outlet, "we don’t have a prostitution ring here.”