Four former dancers are suing a River North strip club, alleging management regularly allowed customers to physically and sexually assault them at work.

The dancers’ suit alleges that the strip club, Rick’s Cabaret Chicago at 1531 N. Kingsbury St., “knowingly fostered a hostile work environment” by allowing customers to commit “egregious assaults and batteries on female dancers, including grabbing and groping dancers’ intimate private areas under their clothing, slapping dancers, exposing their genitals, biting, choking and other outrageous and criminal acts.”

The lawsuit, which was filed last week in federal court in Chicago, names as defendants owners Pooh Bah Enterprises, Inc., and RCI Holdings, Inc., in addition to RCI Hospitality Holdings CEO Eric Langan and managers at Rick’s.

The lawsuit alleges dancers at Rick’s were misclassified as independent contractors to avoid compliance with employment law.

In a statement Tuesday, Pooh Bah Enterprises categorically denied the former dancers’ allegations.

“The claims are all false,” the statement said. “We do not tolerate any type of discrimination or misconduct.”

The plaintiffs in the case are Stephanie Corral, Nicole Potenzo, Lisa Waddell and Stephanie Hansen, who all worked as dancers at the club until last year. They are seeking class status for their suit.

The lawsuit details numerous occasions when dancers at Rick’s reported assaults by customers to management, who then allegedly did nothing.

One dancer said a customer allegedly choked her “to the point she could barely breathe and almost lost consciousness” while she was performing in the VIP area of the club. The dancer said that though she reported the assault to a manager, “nothing was done, and the customer was not kicked out.”

Another dancer said she was fired after confronting a customer for pulling out his genitals at the club. The dancer told the customer, “Put it away, we don’t do that here,” according to the suit. The lawsuit alleges the dancer was terminated after the incident and that the customer was allowed to remain in the club.

In another instance, a customer allegedly bit a dancer after she told him to stop trying to penetrate her with his fingers. A manager “shrugged the incident off,” even though the dancer’s neck and shoulder “were red and already starting to bruise,” the lawsuit alleges.

The suit alleges violations of various state and federal laws, including the Illinois Gender Violence Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Illinois Biometric Privacy and Information Act.

The lawsuit alleges that two of the dancers, Waddell and Corral, who were both over 40, were fired because of their age.

The lawsuit’s claims under Illinois’ strict biometric privacy law arise from allegations that the club collected and stored the dancers’ biometric information — their fingerprints — without prior written consent.

The issue of strip club dancers’ employment classification as employees versus independent contractors has prompted litigation before.

Rick’s was previously known as VIP’s Gentlemen’s Club before it was purchased by RCI Hospitality Holdings for $10.5 million in 2018.

The Chicago lawsuit cites a federal class-action lawsuit filed by dancers against RCI in New York in 2009. In 2015, RCI paid $11.1 million to settle that suit, which alleged dancers were misclassified as independent contractors and denied minimum wage in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

In 2018, a former dancer at the Admiral Theatre in Chicago filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging dancers at the Albany Park club were misclassified as independent contractors. The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice in 2019, according to court records.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has an open investigation into the Admiral Theatre, confirmed communications director Victor Chen.

Federal court records show the EEOC is investigating a charge of sex and race discrimination filed against Admiral by a former dancer on behalf of herself and a class. Records show Admiral objected to a subpoena issued by the EEOC, arguing it should not have to produce information for dancers it considers independent contractors.

In February, federal judge Thomas M. Durkin ruled to enforce the agency’s subpoena. “The EEOC is entitled to investigate whether a worker is an employee,” Durkin wrote in a court order Feb. 22, noting that “many” federal courts have previously found dancers are appropriately classified as employees.

A representative for the Admiral Theatre did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

In May, a hearing is scheduled before the National Labor Relations Board regarding a similar classification issue in a case involving strippers at Star Garden, a Los Angeles club. The strippers are attempting to unionize with the Actors’ Equity Association; the club is challenging their status as employees eligible to unionize.

An initial status hearing in the Rick’s lawsuit is scheduled in early May.

tasoglin@chicagotribune.com