Law360, New York (December 2, 2014, 10:25 AM EST) -- Many employers are aware that in January 2013, the U.S. Department of Labor intended to start cracking down on the (mis)classification of workers as independent contractors. Within this context, over the last several years, dancers at gentlemen's clubs around the country have brought numerous Fair Labor Standards Act and related state law wage-and-hour class action suits challenging their classification as independent contractors. These lawsuits have demanded, among other things, wages for all hours that the dancers "worked"; and considering that the majority of these clubs neglected to pay the dancers any wages for hours worked — due to the independent contractor classifications — the damages sought have been well into the seven- and eight-figure range....