We are pleased to announce that U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea granted class certification for a Connecticut Class of webcam performers for Streamate.com, a live adult streaming website. The Class Representative alleges that she and the Class were misclassified as independent contractors, and therefore they are entitled to damages for (1) time spent performing in “free chat”; and (2) tips received from customers but kept by Streamate. In essence, the Class Members were only paid for part of the show, and they were able to keep only a small fraction of their tips, about 35%. But tips are the sole property of the employee, and an employer may not take any portion of the worker’s earned tips for any purpose. The liability portion of the case proceeds now on a class-wide basis.
The Court’s Opinion granting class certification may be found below.
According to Class Counsel Charles J. Kocher, Esq.: “We are very pleased that the Court granted class certification in this important wage and hour case under Connecticut law to recover 100% of the tips withheld and payment for all hours worked in the free chat.” The Streamate wage and action class litigation is brought by Charles J. Kocher, Tyler J. Burrell, and Gaetano J. DiPersia.
