Picketing and strike signs in Peachtree City? What’s up with that?

It is a story of claims made by former employees of unpaid wages and other issues at a recently opened non-profit medical center in Peachtree City and the counter claims made by the center’s president.

Several former employees picketed on the sidewalk, signs and all, on Aug. 14 and Sept. 3. Seven former employees have spoken with The Citizen, as has the president of the medical office.

Rheumatology Arthritis Center, Inc. (RAC) President William Paul says a variety of claims being made by several former employees center around their “personal family problems.”

Some of the former employees who have picketed the medical office that opened in Peachtree City in mid-June disagree, citing the company’s non-payment for hours worked, failure to provide employment applications, the suggestions of volunteerism and other inconsistencies related to their former employment.

A total of eight former staff at the RAC medical office on Westpark Drive, the practice of Dr. Donna Paul, include a physician, a research nurse, two medical assistants, two receptionists, a human resources/billing clerk and clinical study coordinator.

Some also claim other workplace inconsistencies such as being asked to volunteer their time, having a paycheck bounce, RAC withholding 20 percent of their payment in cash to cover taxes, not being provided with employment applications or tax deduction information and with some claiming Paul said he did not have the money to pay them.

Paul in an interview Sept. 3 denied any wrongdoing on the part of the non-profit medical office.

Dr. Signe O’Neale, one of three former employees to take her claim to Fayette County Magistrate Court, filed June 17 stating that per her “employment contract” she is owed $12,330.75 for work performed from May 1 through June 2. Present in Magistrate Court Sept. 10, O’Neale was awarded a judgment for the unpaid wages. No one representing Rheumatology Arthritis Center was present at the hearing.

Another having filed with the court over claims of non-payment of wages owed was research nurse Lynn Goggin in the amount of $2,215. Goggin is one of two former staff cited by Paul as being a “ring-leader” in the controversy at the medical center.

RAC representatives failed to appear in court July 30 and the company was ordered to pay Goggin.

RAC subsequently requested and received a new hearing to set aside the default judgment to be heard Sept. 24. Paul in the request alleged a smear campaign against Dr. Donna Paul and claimed police had to be called to stop the disruption of traffic by the protesters.

A check with Peachtree City Police indicated that police had been called and the protesters were found to be in the public right-of-way.

A third employee who filed a claim, medical assistant Arlene McDoniel, was on the sidewalk with her sign Sept. 3. McDoniel was told that morning she could be paid. Paul later that morning gave her a certified check for $1,045. The Citizen received a copy of the check.

Another former RAC staffer, Keri Drayton, was present on Sept. 3 and holding a protest sign along with Goggin and McDoniel on the sidewalk in front of the medical office building on Westpark Drive.

The Citizen after the interview with Paul was on the sidewalk when Drayton exited the office and told her former coworkers that she had been given a check for $600.

Paul provided The Citizen with a copy of the Sept. 3 agreement signed by Drayton. The document said Drayton was paid $600 as a “love offering” which will conclude any and all outstanding debt and liabilities with the corporation. The letterhead on the document was from Church On The Road, another non-profit of which Paul is president.

Yet another former RAC employee, clinical study coordinator Amanda Colbert, said that she, too, had not been paid for time worked during her brief stay at the medical office. Employed from mid-May until early June, Colbert said she left on June 2, a pay day, after only one employee was paid. With 17 years in her field, Colbert maintained that her repeated requests to be given an employment application and W-2 paperwork went unheeded.

“(Paul) always had a reason why he couldn’t give me the paperwork to fill out,” Colbert said, adding that she is owed $2,125 for time at the medical office.

Paul in an interview at his medical office Sept. 3 responded to the various claims. On the issue of staff claiming they had not been paid for hours worked, Paul’s response was immediate.

“I’ll just use one word. Erroneous. It’s absolutely not true,” Paul said, adding that Goggin and human resources and billing clerk Lacrissa Germany were “ring-leaders” in the claims surrounding the former staff who claim that were not paid for all the hours they worked.

“These people were here such a short period of time and each one of them had a reason to leave,” Paul said. “And the reason they had to leave, they had personal family problems. Every one of them. They didn’t miss one paycheck, not one. Nobody missed a paycheck.”

On the claim of a bounced paycheck, The Citizen is in possession of a copy of an RAC check for payroll dated July 1 and made out to McDoniel in the amount of $592. The check was returned for insufficient funds on July 8, according to the bank stamp. Paul says he has no knowledge of the check.

“I’m not familiar with it. We haven’t gotten a copy back and we went to the bank and the bank at that particular time said they had not seen it,” Paul said. “We gave them cash money, we know that, that they cashed the check and kept the money. I have no idea of a bounced check. That person, she (McDoniel) came in and told me. It was not a bounced check. What it was, the bank floated the thing. You know, like if you don’t have enough money and you know the money is coming in that week they may give you a charge on (your) account and you pay it off. But I don’t know that happened. I went to the bank, asked the question and the banker said to me, ‘Tell her to bring it over and we’ll cash it’ and she did. We made good on what she said and told her to turn the check back. We haven’t seen the check (as of) today. We’ve never seen that check.”

In another issue where former employees claim that they had been asked to volunteer their time, Paul said that some staff had volunteered, adding a few statements later that no one had volunteered.

“You had three people that did that. One was Ms. Germany. We met and she talked how she wanted to work for us. She came in and said, ‘I do insurance,’ and she lied about it, she didn’t do insurance. Another staff helped her set it up and Germany did it all wrong. (Germany) volunteered on her own accord. We’re a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization, non-profit. So she volunteered because she wanted to volunteer,” Paul said.

Then seemingly reversing himself, Paul added that, “There were no volunteers. McDoniel was doing an internship and could not accept money.”

According to the Georgia Secretary of State, Rheumatology Arthritis Center, Inc. was established as a non-profit in November 2008 with William Paul as the registered agent.

With offices listed at 1029 Peachtree Parkway, the company is an active corporation though it does owe the current annual registration fee. Church On The Road is also listed at the same physical address.