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Former Blush & Blu workers file lawsuit over rampant wage theft and race-based worker mistreatment

Discrimination Wage Theft / Misclassification

Overview

Three former employees of Blush & Blu, one of the few remaining lesbian bars in the country, filed a lawsuit against the prominent Denver bar. The workers allege that Blush & Blu and its owner Jody Bouffard discriminated against one of the barโ€™s only Black workers, habitually failed to pay its employees minimum wage, and, at times, failed to pay them at all. Lesbian bars have long played a crucial role in building queer community and creating a safe space for the queer and trans communities. But the complaint asserts that, for close to a decade, Blush & Blu weaponized the so-called โ€œsafe spaceโ€ and โ€œfamilyโ€ at the bar to create a culture of obligation and manipulate workers into enduring mistreatment, racism, and oppressive employment practices.

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