A former dancer at a West Los Angeles strip club is suing the business, alleging she was forced to entertain VIP guests in a private room after being plied with alcohol and drugs and that management regularly called her a "whore."
The plaintiff is identified only as Jane Doe in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit filed against the Silver Reign Gentlemen's Club on Mississippi Avenue.
The allegations include retaliation, sexual harassment, intentional infliction of emotional distress and false imprisonment.
The suit filed Friday seeks unspecified damages.
Representatives from Silver Reign did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and the company's website states the club is closed due to coronavirus stay-at-home rules.
The plaintiff began working at the establishment in August 2018 and earned all her income through tips, the suit states. She alleges she was called a "whore" often by management and that her bosses inappropriately touched her.
Club management remodeled a storage room in the rear of the building into a room for VIP guests who were offered private lap dances that lasted from a half hour to several hours, according to the suit. The on-duty manager would stand by the door to the room and make sure it was not opened before the VIP session was over, the suit states.
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In December 2019, Doe was forced to take an excessive amount of alcohol and cocaine, the suit states. She was then escorted by a manager to where a friend of the club's owner was waiting in the windowless VIP room for a private session that lasted three hours, the suit further states.
The VIP guest smoked crystal methamphetamine and encouraged Doe to do the same, but she refused, the suit states.
After the session, management warned Doe, "Don't say anything about this incident," according to the suit.
Doe further alleges she was told by supervisors to make additional trips to the VIP room and that she was "pressured in providing sexual services ... after being forced to consume alcohol and cocaine."
Doe resigned in January and has undergone counseling through Alcoholics Anonymous after becoming addicted to alcohol on the job, the suit states. She now works as a restaurant server, the suit further states.
