Former Calendar Girls dancers tell court they could not choose their clients

Former Wellington Calendar Girls dancers have told the Employment Court they were not given the autonomy of contractors nor able to choose their own clients.

Nineteen dancers were fired from Calendar Girls in 2023 after protesting a new contract.

Some of those workers have since taken their case to the Employment Court where they are pursuing an application for a declaration of their employment status.

They say they while Calendar Girls considered them to be contractors - and this was also the workers' preference - in practice they were treated as employees - and they're seeking a judge's ruling on that.

The former workers gave evidence that the club considered them to be contractors, not giving them entitlements such as annual or sick leave and workers had to pay their own taxes - but the workers said Calendar Girls treated them like employees.

One woman told the court they were not able to work for other clubs or agencies while working at Calendar Girls, which was in contrast to what contractors at strip clubs in other countries experience.

Another spoke of the lack of autonomy over the services being sold.

She said the club was involved in every step of what they did and while there was an illusion that dancers could refuse clients, there were repercussions if they did.

She described a lap dance experience with a client she was not comfortable with.

She said management had promised the client she would take her g-string off during the dance but she didn't because he was giving her the "creeps".

She said she was reprimanded for this.

A third described how workers were expected to dance on the main stage for two songs but were not paid for this and had to rely on getting tips from clients after the dance.

The worker said they were required to strip nude during their dances and had no ability to decline this, or walking around patrons topless afterwards in order to collect tips.

Several workers reported the club had set hours they expected dancers to be there - regardless if there were paying clients or not.

They also spoke of management yelling at them and threatening to fire or fine them.

The plaintiffs said they were predominately paid cash, with no breakdown of their earnings, which they then had to pay taxes on.

But otherwise the plaintiffs said their experiences at Calendar Girls were not very different to other experiences they'd had as employees.

They said if they were contractors they also wanted the rights and responsibilities that came with that.

GSMN Limited (formerly known as Calendar Girls NZ Limited) did not turn up to Monday's hearing.

Judge Merepaia King read sections from a brief of evidence from GSMN Limited director James Samson to the plaintiffs.

Samson's evidence was that the contractor model was preferred by the workers as it gave them more flexibility.

The plaintiffs said they agreed with that in theory, but the reality of how they were treated was quite different.

He also gave evidence that performers could leave after their dances, something the plaintiffs strongly disagreed with.

Samson's brief of evidence also denied that full nudity was required on stage, and said performers retained control over whether and how the services were provided - both which were met with disagreement by the plaintiffs.