Floyd Mayweather is facing a lawsuit for an apparent wage dispute gone wrong. The boxing world champion is being sued by Jasmine Woodward, an exotic dancer who worked at Mayweather’s Las Vegas nightclub ‘Girl Collection’.
As TMZ reports, Woodward filed the claims in Clark County ton Monday and alleged the incident happened on April 23, 2023 after her shift. Woodward claims that she approached Mayweather about “failure to pay her for the shifts that she worked earlier in the weekend,” and was met with “[a slap in the face] in front of other dancers and customers on the floor of the club.”
She was fired afterward.
Her attorneys also wrote in the suit that she retreated to the locker rooms in tears and Mayweather followed her, telling her that she “could not take a joke.”
Brittany Strauss, a fellow exotic dancer from the nightclub, joined the suit as a plaintiff in support of Woodward’s assault and battery claims. The two are also suing both Mayweather and his sister Deltricia Howard for failing to pay minimum wages, illegally withholding tips, and unspecified damages.
As the Athletic reports, the dancers said Mayweather and Howard misclassified them as independent contractors rather than employees. The dancers also accused Mayweather and Howard of requiring them to pay fees and portions of their tips to other employees, which the lawsuit alleged was in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
Mayweather determines when dancers are allowed to leave for the night and he “often decides how much of the dancers’ tips will be retained by the club for a given shift,” the lawsuit says.
Matthew Thomson, the attorney representing the dancers, claims text message evidence shows Mayweather, referred to as “Champ” in the messages, was directly involved in coordinating with the dancers about their shifts and other club operations. “We strongly believe that Girl Collection exploited its entertainers and violated wage laws, with Mayweather playing an active role in it,” Thomson said.
Felton Newell, Mayweather’s representation, told The Athletic Mayweather “vehemently denies the allegations” and claims Mayweather never owned the club identified in the case.
“Mr. Mayweather never assaulted the plaintiff and he never owned the club identified in the case,” Newell said. “This is nothing more than a legal shakedown. Mr. Mayweather looks forward to the opportunity to prove in court that these allegations are false.”