Hollis v. R&R Restaurants, Inc., 159 F.4^th 677 (9^th Cir. 2025)

Zoe Hollis sued a Portland, Oregon strip club called Sassy’s under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) for misclassifying its dancers as independent contractors rather than employees and for violating corresponding wage and hour provisions. After Hollis filed the complaint, Frank Faillace, a partner and manager of Sassy’s and another club called Dante’s, canceled an agreement for Hollis to perform in a weekly variety show (“Sinferno”) at Dante’s. Hollis then amended the complaint to allege retaliation in further violation of the FLSA. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of the defendant on the ground that Hollis did not have a private right of action for retaliation because she was not an employee of Dante’s when Faillace canceled the scheduled performance. The Ninth Circuit reversed, holding that an alleged retaliator need not be the actual employer if the retaliator is acting directly or indirectly in the interest of the employer. The Court also held that it was not relevant to the viability of the retaliation claim that Hollis’s underlying FLSA wage and hour claims were found to be time-barred if Hollis’s work at Sassy’s satisfied the economic realities test.