LOS ANGELES — After strippers at Star Garden, a topless dive bar in North Hollywood, won the right to unionize last year, the club's owner agreed to reopen the club, hire back dancers he had fired, and run the club as it had been before the labor dispute.

Now, however, the National Labor Relations Board has issued a complaint against the club, alleging it failed to fully follow through and violated the terms of a May 2023 settlement it reached with Actors' Equity Association, the union representing the group of about a dozen dancers.

The findings came after union lawyers provided information showing that when the club reopened last year, it substantially changed how it operates, said Andrea F. Hoeschen, general counsel for Actors' Equity Association.

The club, which used to be open every day, now opens only three days a week with limited hours and implemented a new cover charge, Hoeschen said. It also cut back the number of dancers who perform, inflated drink prices and stopped accepting cash, Hoeschen added.

"Simply putting out an open sign but running your business vastly different than you used to is vastly not compliant with the settlement terms," Hoeschen said.

In interviews, three dancers said that how they're allowed to work had also changed.

"Before, we were allowed to actually give a lap dance," said a Star Garden dancer who asked to be identified only by her stage name, May. "We could sit on their lap and engage with a customer in a way that's normal in most clubs. Now we can't touch a customer literally at all."

Attorneys representing Star Garden's owner, Stepan K. Kazaryan, have repeatedly denied that the club has violated terms of the settlement.

"We intend to vigorously oppose this overreach by the board," attorney Josiah R. Jenkins said.

In a March 19 filing to the NLRB, attorneys representing Star Garden argued that dancers have refused to perform lap dances, depriving the club of income.

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