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Trial Court Finds Employer (and Owner) Liable for Withholding Physician’s Wages, Resulting in an Additional $139,865.30 in Statutory Penalties and Attorney Fees

Trial Court Finds Employer (and Owner) Liable for Withholding Physician’s Wages, Resulting in an Additional $139,865.30 in Statutory Penalties and Attorney Fees

Our client signed a two-year Physician Employment Agreement with Defendant, a sole member/agent LLC. A few months into working at the clinic, our client informed her employer, through the clinic’s owner, that the employer had breached the Agreement by failing to pay her timely in the past, was delinquent at present for all wages owed to date, and that she was terminating the employment relationship. Our client then sent Defendant an e-mail detailing the wages owed to her to date, but Defendant failed to remit the remaining owed wages.

We filed a petition in the 22nd Judicial District Court, St. Tammany Parish, for violations of the Louisiana Wage Payment Act (“LWPA”). La. R.S. 23:631, et seq., as well as other claims related to breaches of the Employment Agreement. We also filed a Rule to Show Cause in order to have a more expeditious hearing on the wage claims as allowed under the LWPA.

The Court, after hearing the evidence, issued a ruling finding the Defendant clinic, and the Defendant owner, liable in solido in the amount of $27,083.32 in unpaid wages, $10,833.36 for 8 days of unused and unpaid vacation, $600.00 for health insurance and cell phone reimbursements, $139,865.30 in statutory penalties and attorney fees under the LWPA, and all costs and judicial interest from date of demand until paid in full.

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