Dancers at Pink Pony, the Brookhaven gentlemen's club, say they were forced to pay hundreds of dollars a night out of their own earnings just to work a shift — sometimes walking away with nothing at all. A newly filed federal lawsuit alleges the club's fee structure routinely pushed workers' pay below minimum wage while management pocketed a cut of their tips.
The collective-action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia in Wendlandt v. Trop, Inc., according to WSB-TV. Hall & Lampros, LLP refers to the matter as Wendlandt v. Trop, Inc. but did not file the collective-action lawsuit. The suit, under case number 1:26-cv-03795, names corporate entity Trop, Inc. along with CEO Michael A. Kap, CFO Dennis Williams, and night manager Eddie Stone as individual defendants, alleging they exercised direct operational control over employee pay and working conditions.
The lawsuit alleges dancers were required to pay a nightly house fee that ranged from $60 to $532 per shift depending on their earnings, with some workers claiming they received no wages at all after the deductions. Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray, who obtained a copy of the federal complaint, reported that employees say they sometimes pay hundreds of dollars a night just to be at the club.
Tip Pools and a $10 Valet Fee
Beyond the house fee, the complaint alleges Pink Pony violated the Tip Income Protection Act by forcing tipped workers to surrender 50% to 60% of their earnings into a tip pool that benefited management and non-tipped staff, according to the same account from Hall & Lampros. The firm's summary of the complaint also describes a mandatory $10-per-shift fee charged to tipped employees to use the club's valet service, along with allegations that staff were made to perform duties off the clock.
The complaint further alleges the club failed to provide the advance tip credit notices required under the Fair Labor Standards Act before paying workers below the federal $7.25 hourly minimum wage. Per the law firm's account, employers who skip that formal notice forfeit their right to count tips toward the minimum wage at all, meaning they owe full minimum wage for every hour worked regardless of tips earned.
Not the First Time Pink Pony Has Faced This Claim
A similar federal collective-action complaint has alleged tip retention, house fees, and minimum-wage violations, according to a copy of that complaint posted on Scribd.
The case documentation reviewed by CaseMine states that, in Hanson v. Trop, Inc., U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg denied Pink Pony's motion for summary judgment.
Why Courts Keep Treating Dancers as Employees
The legal theory underlying all three lawsuits rests on well-established Eleventh Circuit precedent. Federal courts in the circuit have repeatedly held that exotic dancers are legally classified as employees rather than independent contractors under the FLSA's “economic reality” test, based in part on a club's control. That precedent prevents venues from disclaiming employment status through written independent-contractor agreements, which strip clubs of the ability to argue dancers were never entitled to minimum wage protections in the first place.
Federal wage claims allow workers to recover unpaid wages, matching liquidated damages, and attorney fees, according to Martin & Martin, LLP.
A Decade of Payments to Brookhaven
Pink Pony's presence in Brookhaven has also come with substantial financial obligations to the city itself. The club paid $283,000 in legal fees related to defending the ordinance and an annual $225,000 fee to the city and police department. That arrangement allowed the club to keep selling alcohol following long-running zoning battles with local government.
The new Wendlandt lawsuit remains a pending claim in federal court, and none of the allegations against Trop, Inc. or its named executives have been proven. Corporate officers who maintain operational control over compensation can face personal liability under the FLSA, a standard relevant to the wage lawsuits discussed here.
