EXCLUSIVE: Patricia Heaton’s Assistant “Demanded to be Paid Many, Many Times”

Posted on Aug 18, 2009 @ 04:42PM

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Patricia Heaton has a lot of explaining to do: it turns out the sitcom star, who is being sued by her former assistant for failing to pay her wages, had been dodging the payments for months.

Click here for more on the lawsuit

“This is a serious claim,” Jennifer Lee’s attorney, Amanda Hill, told RadarOnline.com exclusively. “Jennifer has demanded to be paid many, many times since January of this year, so this is not a knee-jerk reaction.”

Heaton is also under fire for the allegation that she felt Lee’s child was getting in the way of her work.

“[The allegation] was one of the reasons stated during the phone call made to fire her. We’re not trying to put personal or embarrassing things out there, but we’re trying to put the factually correct things out there so that she can recover her wages,” the lawyer added.

While Lee wants her money, her lawyer insists the added attention to the case is unwanted. “This isn’t a publicity case. Patricia Heaton is a celebrity which makes it interesting, and unfortunately the people she chose to surround her self with decided that she didn’t need to pay Jennifer her wages.”

“In my experience, celebrities often are surrounded by people who tell them 'yes' all the time, and for whatever reason they don't take paying their employees seriously. They think they just don't have to do it."