A former dancer at a topless club will have to arbitrate her claims alleging she was wrongfully fired in 2022 for complaining that a customer threw a white substance at her while she was performing and told her it was cocaine, a judge ruled Monday.
Nicole Prendez’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit against Sam’s Hofbrau also alleges multiple state Labor Code violations, including that the plaintiff was not paid for all hours worked. Sam’s Hofbrau maintained that Prendez was bound by a November 2022 agreement to arbitrate her claims and filed a motion asking Judge Lynne M. Hobbs to order her to do so.
Hobbs granted the motion after hearing arguments Monday, saying she was not convinced by Prendez’s sworn declaration that she had not signed an arbitration agreement.
“Plaintiff’s denial of signing the agreement is not persuasive,” the judge said. “Although plaintiff denies that the signature or initials on the agreement are not hers, there is no obvious difference between the writing on the agreement and those other writing samples that plaintiff presents.”
Prendez was hired at the cabaret on Olympic Boulevard near Alameda Street in downtown Los Angeles in June 2021 and throughout her employment she was required to pay portions of her tips as a kickback to the managers and security guards or face being fired, according to the suit, which further states that the plaintiff worked about 52 hours weekly on a six-day schedule without meal and rest breaks.
“Plaintiff was only allowed to use the restroom, which did not amount to a full uninterrupted rest break,” the suit alleges.
Prendez was dancing on a table on Sept. 10, 2022, when at about 8:10 p.m. a customer threw a white powdery substance in her face, the suit states. When Prendez asked the patron what was thrown at her, he responded, “cocaine,” according to the suit.
The club manager reviewed what happened on security video and the customer was ejected, but no ambulance was called for Prendez until the plaintiff felt dizzy and her heart began racing, the suit states.
Prendez filed a police report with officers summoned to Sam’s Hofbrau and she later was evaluated at a Riverside hospital, where she was told no traces of the drug were found and that she may have had an allergic reaction, the suit states.
Prendez returned to the same hospital two days later and a doctor placed her on an IV until she was well enough to go home, according to the complaint, which further states that the plaintiff had blood drawn two days later because she is an egg donor and was worried she could lose that secondary source of income if she was exposed to something harmful.
Prendez went back to work five days after being doused with the white substance and the manager on duty told the plaintiff she had been “86’d,” explaining that the term meant she was fired, the suit filed last July 2 states.
When Prendez inquired if she lost her job because she reported a customer had allegedly thrown cocaine at her, the manager did not answer, according to the suit, but the plaintiff maintains her speaking out was indeed behind her firing.
“I believe this termination was retaliatory in nature and directly tied to my reporting of the incident involving the customer,” Prendez said in her declaration.
The judge put the lawsuit on hold pending the outcome of the arbitration and scheduled a post-arbitration status conference for Aug. 1.