The fallout from the abrupt closure of Frequency Dance, formerly known as Kinesis Dance, continues to deepen, with new court filings revealing a wage theft lawsuit and a pending eviction from the studio’s South Boulder location.
The new legal actions came to light in the days following Boulder Reporting Lab’s reporting on the studio’s abrupt closure amid allegations of financial misconduct, unpaid bills and unresolved disputes with families.
Read: How a Boulder youth dance studio unraveled amid fraud allegations and unpaid bills
The Colorado Attorney General’s Office has not publicly commented on whether it is investigating the studio. However, according to an email obtained by Boulder Reporting Lab, on Jan. 23, Boulder police told about a dozen parents who had made reports about Burdine’s overbilling and “poor business practices” that they could contact the Attorney General’s Office. While Boulder police closed their own investigation earlier this month, they are sharing their files with the Attorney General’s Office.
On Jan. 13, Boulder County District Court ruled in favor of the studio’s landlord, Table Mesa Shopping Center LLC, in its eviction case after owner Cindy Burdine failed to appear in court, according to the landlord’s attorney, Chris Ash. The eviction is now being scheduled with the Boulder County Sheriff’s Office and stems from more than $48,000 in unpaid rent, according to court filings.
Separately, a former employee, Abby Ciereszko, sued Burdine for wage theft on Dec. 2.
Ciereszko’s lawyer, Alex Dorotik of Ingenuity Law, said at least five additional employees stopped receiving pay starting in September, around the time about a dozen families withdrew their children from the studio over overbilling concerns. Several employees worked for months without pay, according to Dorotik and Ciereszko.
Dorotik said he is unsure whether additional employees will be added to the complaint.
“There just may not be any money there to get for the employees,” he said.
According to the complaint, Ciereszko, now 19, is a former dance student who was hired as an instructor at Frequency Dance. In addition to about $1,400 in wages, the lawsuit alleges she was illegally classified as an independent contractor, despite Burdine allegedly “dictating her hours of work, taste, and conditions of employment.”
Under Colorado law, independent contractors must be “free from control and direction in the performance of the service” and engaged in an independent profession.
“If you hire a plumber to come to your house, they’re an independent contractor,” Dorotik said. “They come when they set the time. They do the work as they see fit. This is nowhere close. These are college kids who are hired to teach specific classes and told when to teach, how to teach, where to teach.”
Misclassifying employees as independent contractors changes how overtime rules and payroll taxes apply, including Medicare and Social Security contributions. Two other former Frequency Dance employees previously told Boulder Reporting Lab they believe they were also misclassified as independent contractors.
Burdine disputed that characterization in earlier comments to Boulder Reporting Lab, saying, “It wasn’t a misclassification, because everyone has free will to teach as they want. My accountant told me as long as they’re teaching under a certain amount of hours and they’re doing their own thing, I was advised that that was fine.”
Dorotik said Burdine has not responded to the lawsuit, a written demand for payment in November, or multiple attempts to contact her before the case was filed. He has since moved for a default judgment in Ciereszko’s favor.
Burdine did not respond to a request to comment on the wage theft suit.
Several parents who prepaid for services that were never rendered due to the studio’s closure say they have also not been paid or heard from Burdine.
In a previous interview, Burdine told Boulder Reporting Lab that parents would hear from her by the end of that week, Jan. 18.