A former TapouT sales representative who filed suit over a wage dispute was awarded $2.4 million in punitive damages by a Los Angeles Superior Court jury, according to a report in Beverly Hills Courier.
The same jury on Monday awarded her $840,000 in compensatory damages, bringing her total award to more than $3.2 million.
The punitive damages phase was triggered when the panel concluded that
TapouT acted with malice toward the 32-year-old trade show model, who filed her suit in October
2008.
She maintained that she was not paid the commissions she was promised and was denied overtime for working as many as 70-plus hours some weeks during her eight months on the job. She was fired in June 2008.
TapouT's attorney told the newspaper that Arika Helton, TapouT's national sales manager, testified Thomas never complained to her about not being paid overtime. The attorney also said TapouT sales representatives were entitled to time off instead of overtime because of their employee classifications.
