We are pleased to announce that federal judge Hon. Sean P. Flynn granted certification of a Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) Collective of over 1,200 Florida webcam performers for Streamate.com, a live adult streaming website. The Class Representative Plaintiff alleges that she, and those similarly situated, were misclassified as independent contractors, and thus, they are entitled to damages for (1) time spent performing in “free chat”; and (2) tips received from customers but kept by the employer-Defendants. As alleged, the Plaintiffs were only paid for a part of the show and only got to keep about 35% of their tips. The FLSA prohibits employers from keeping any portion of employees’ tips for any purpose. The Court agreed with the Plaintiffs that “[a]t its root, the Performer Agreement defines the relationship between performers and Defendants, classifies every performer as an independent contractor subject to the same compensation structure (i.e., no hourly compensation for time in free chats), and includes the rules a performer must follow to remain on the platform—all evidence common to the collective” and that “the judicial system benefits by efficient resolution of common issues of fact and law arising from the same alleged . . . activity.”
The Court’s Order January 16, 2025, Granting Conditional Certification may be found below.
According to her counsel Charles J. Kocher, Esq.: “We are very pleased that the Court granted Plaintiffs’ Conditional Certification Motion to allow other Streamate webcam workers in Florida to join this important wage and hour case. My client’s case is the second time a federal court granted conditional certification of a FLSA Collective against the owners of Streamate.com: first New Jersey and now Florida.