Independent Contractor or Employee: The Exotic Dancer Cases

This descriptive case was designed for use in an undergraduate taxation or business law class. The case provided an exercise for students to decide whether workers should be classified as employees or independent contractors using alternative Internal Revenue Service and common law criteria. The facts were taken from actual litigation between an exotic dancing establishment and its previously employed dancers. The case provided a narrative description of evidence, summarization of the working contracts between the club and its performers, and separate appendices describing the Internal Revenue Service and common law authorities controlling the resolution of the issue. The applied case was designed to help students recognize the effects of the independent contractor/employee classification upon stakeholders, recognize the significant factors controlling the classification decision, and to evaluate evidence and legal criteria in order to make an informed and defensible judgment.