Oct. 27—A North Huntingdon exotic dancer wants a local adult night club to pay her more than $58,000 in back wages and damages she says she is owed because the club misclassified her employment status.

Deanna Betras, 41, alleges the owners of the former The Filly Corral in South Huntingdon — Oli-Car Inc. — violated the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law by controlling the workplace environment as if she were an employee and would not permit her to work at other clubs.

Instead, the owners listed her as an independent contractor to avoid paying at least minimum wage and overtime when she danced more than 40 hours a week, according to a federal lawsuit filed in July in Pittsburgh. Betras danced at The Filly Corral off and on from 2007 to March 2020, when the club closed because of pandemic-related restrictions, according to the suit.

Betras declined to comment on the lawsuit.

Thomas Oliver, secretary-treasurer of the defunct The Filly Corral, would not comment on specifics contained in the lawsuit. He said the club operated as did other adult clubs, with the dancers working as independent contractors. The club did not exert control over the dancers, Oliver said.

"She is suing a defunct organization. There is no money (to pay a judgement). I don't care what she does," Oliver said.

The Filly Corral closed Feb. 28, Oliver said. The Filly Gentlemen's Club opened March 1 at the same site, near truck stops off the Smithton exit of Interstate 70. Oliver said he is the manager for a Virgin Islands-based ownership group. Betras' lawsuit initially named The Filly Gentlemen's Club as a defendant, but it was later removed from the suit.

In response to complaints dancers were not paid minimum wage, Oliver said dancers could earn between $200 and $800 in tips during busy weekend nights.

Betras initially sought a class action lawsuit on behalf of current and former dancers, but she asked a judge this month to give her a $58,448 default judgment that includes almost $26,000 in back wages from July 2018 through March 2020, plus attorney fees and damages. A judge this week ordered Betras to provide proof of her attorney costs.

She filed a similar lawsuit in July against CM Thompson Enterprises LLC of Cranberry, operators of the Hideout in Mt. Pleasant Township. She danced there from 2019 to April 2021.

Brian Thompson, attorney for Thompson Enterprises, could not be reached for comment.

Thompson, in an Oct. 18 response to the lawsuit, denied the dancers were misclassified and denied the Hideout took part of their tips. The judge has ordered the club and Betras to engage in negotiations in an attempt to resolve the lawsuit before going to trial. The court ordered the parties to select an alternative dispute resolution by Nov. 16.

In her lawsuits, Betras described a system in which the clubs forced dancers to pay to perform — $40 at the Filly Corral and $20 at the Hideout.

"Dancers sometimes receive little to no actual compensation despite hours of work," according to the suit against the Hideout.

The clubs set the dancers' schedules, required proof of illness if they missed work, fined them if they were late for work or if they missed more than three scheduled performances per shift, according to the suits. The clubs also set the fee dancers must charge customers for personalized services.

The Hideout maintained such "significant supervision" over the dancers that the suit alleges they were not permitted to get dressed after their performance until they received permission from management.

Betras' Pittsburgh attorneys, Edwin J. Kilpela and Elizabeth Pollock Avery, could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuits contend the clubs violated Labor Department regulations by taking a portion of the dancers' tips. The Hideout allegedly took $64 of the $160 dancers received when giving a customer a 30-minute "VIP" experience, while the dancers at the Filly Corral were required t0 give the club 40% of the fees, according to the lawsuits.

The clubs took $10 of the $20 dancers received when giving a customer a private dance, the suits state. Dancers at the Hideout were forced to give a customer a free private dance if the customer bought two dances.

Customers who believe they were tipping the women a certain amount actually were tipping them less because of the deductions, the suits state.

In July 2019, Franchesca Reyes filed a similar labor law violations lawsuit against Mag Pitt LLC, operator of Cheerleaders Gentlemen's Club on Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh, and its principal director, John Meehan.

Reyes also contended management did not pay minimum wage and the only income dancers earned from working six-hour shifts was the tips they collected — though they had to give some of that money to the disc jockeys and bouncers, according to the lawsuit. The dancers were scheduled and had to perform topless, according to the suit. It was settled in October 2019 for an undisclosed amount.

Betras previously sued the owners of Rick's Cabaret in Pittsburgh in federal court on the same grounds. She accepted a $5,287 settlement in December 2019 from BGC 135 9th St. Inc., the owner of Rick's Cabaret.

In New York City, a federal judge awarded a group of exotic dancers close to $10.9 million in back pay in 2014. The judge determined that although the club gave a portion of the private dance fee to the women, it did not absolve the business of the requirement to pay them at least a minimum wage.

In another New York City case, a federal judge in 2013 awarded about $8 million to 1,000 dancers at a city night club on the same grounds.

Joe Napsha is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Joe at 724-836-5252, jnapsha@triblive.com or via Twitter .