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Jury Awards $3.2M To Ex-TapouT Employee For Lost Wages

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A Los Angeles jury has recommended that action sportswear company TapouT pay more than $3.2 million in damages to a former employee who sued over a wage dispute.

City News Service reports the panel on Tuesday recommended the company pay $2.4 million in punitive damages to Michelle Thomas. The same jury on Monday recommended $840,000 in compensatory damages.

Thomas, a former sales representative, sued TapouT in October 2008. She claimed that she was not paid the commissions she was promised and was denied overtime for working more than 70 hours some weeks during her eight months on the job. She was fired in June 2008.

A defense attorney told jurors that TapouT sales representatives were entitled to time off instead of overtime because of their employee classifications.

(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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