The offbeat side of staffing

Strip club workers misclassified, fake wedding guests and a resume that came with a shoe? Not everything in staffing and employment is business as usual.

Here are a few recent news items:

  • Entertainers and other workers at the King of Diamonds Gentleman's Club, a strip club in Inver Grove Heights MN, filed a class action lawsuit alleging the establishment misclassified them as independent contractors instead of employees.

"Defendants miscategorize entertainers who work at their club as independent contractors and require them to pay to come to work," according to the suit. "The entertainers receive neither wage payments nor overtime compensation from defendants, but instead survive on gratuities they receive from customers."

The suit, filed June 1, said non-entertainer workers were also misclassified. However, a voluntary dismissal was filed by plaintiffs on June 24.

  • In Japan, Tokyo company Office Agents rents out wedding guests, Reuters reported. Hiroshi Mizutani told the news organization that customers may be concerned a guest won't make it, be unhappy about a difference in the number of guests compared with the spouse-to-be or be more comfortable inviting a pretend boss instead of a real one. Rented wedding guests are used to solve these problems.

The guests can also perform a song or dance or make a speech for an extra fee, according to Reuters.

  • Almost one-in-five hiring managers reported seeing more job seekers try unusual tactics to get their attention this year compared to last, according to a survey released earlier this month by CareerBuilder.com.

Some of the more memorable tactics by job seekers, according to CareerBuilder.com, include:
-Sending a shoe with a resume to "get my foot in the door."
-Staging a sit-in in a lobby.
-Washing cars in a company parking lot.
-Sending a resume wrapped as a present, saying his skills were a "gift to the company."
-Handing out resumes at stoplights.