PENNSYLVANIA RECORD

A Bucks County woman claims in a newly filed civil action that for about a

half-year before her termination she was paid significantly less than her salary, or nothing at all, with her employer blaming the issue on the changing of payroll companies.

Patricia Medvic, who began working for Bernardino Medical Associates in the late 1970s, stayed with the company after it was bought by Paul C. Ezell, a physician who was formerly with BMA, in the summer of 2007, according to the plaintiff’s complaint, which was filed in federal court in Philadelphia on March 4.

Ezell and his company, Insight Ophthalmology, are accused of failing to pay Medvic her $42,000 annual salary from late June 2012 until the end of that year.

Although the plaintiff worked the same amount of hours per week before June 29, 2012, and for the remainder of the year, she was only paid close to $25,000, the lawsuit states.

The defendants assured Medvic that her pay was forthcoming and “provided excuses” as to why she couldn’t be paid, which included the fact that her pay was being held up due to a change in payroll firms.

Medvic continued to work until late November 2013 and only received approximately two paychecks consisting of one week’s pay each, according to the civil action.

When she got to work on Nov. 22 of last year, the suit says, the plaintiff’s employment was terminated.

After her firing, Medvic repeatedly contacted Ezell via text message asking him to pay her the wages that she is owed, the complaint states.

In response, Ezell “repeatedly acknowledged his failure to pay Plaintiff for the work that she has performed,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit accuses the defendants of violating the Fair Labor Standards Act, the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage Act, and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment Collection Law.

The suit also contains counts of breach of contract and promissory estoppel/detrimental reliance.

Medvic seeks declaratory judgment and injunctive relief, as well as unspecified compensatory, actual and punitive damages and attorney’s fees.

The plaintiff is being represented by Bensalem, Pa. employment attorney Ari R. Karpf.

 

The federal case number is 2:14-cv-01302.