RP 'sexy' dancers accuse employer of labor abuse

GARAPAN, Saipan – Ten Filipina dancers in the US island of Saipan filed a lawsuit against their former employers for unfair labor practices including false imprisonment, forced work during days off, non-payment of overtime compensation, and unauthorized salary deductions.

The complainants were previous employees of the now defunct Club Jama, which used to be one of the most popular strip clubs in Saipan.

It is legal in Saipan for women to dance naked in front of customers, but prostitution is against the law.

On December 2007, Saipan police and Department of Labor investigators raided an apartment where six Club Jama dancers said they were being falsely imprisoned.

Club Jama co-owner Ernest J. Strange denied the allegation, but his club never reopened since the day of the raid.

As of Monday, Strange and his wife Thelma have not been charged in court.

The overseas Filipino workers asked the US District Court for Northern Mariana Islands to order Club Jama and the Strange couple to give them an award of expectation, incidental, consequential and compensatory damages in an amount to be proven at trial, and prejudgment interest, among other things.

The complainants are Aileen C. Alanan, Gerlie Albuna, April G. Alfonso, Jenny Solomon, Aiza Y. Garcia, Doricel Lemorinas, Mary Grace Manguiob, Raquel A. Ramos, Reah Carascal Rodriguez, and Merarcy P. Templado.

The plaintiffs, through counsel Colin M. Thompson, said as part of their duties as dancers for Club Jama, they were made to encourage customers to order and consume “ladies drinks."

However, if they did not meet their quota of ladies drink, their former employers would force them to work on their days off until they made quota.

“At times, plaintiffs were confined to their barracks. When plaintiffs had free time, the plaintiffs' free time was severely restricted," the lawyer for the OFWs said.

Saipan, the capital of the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, is only about three hours away from Manila on a direct flight. - GMANews.TV

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