LAFAYETTE - Some medical professionals say the doctor they work for can't afford to pay them. At least one employee told 2 On Your Side her checks bounce.

The woman, who goes by Melody and did not want to be identified for our story, is a nurse practitioner and thought a private practice was perfect for her. The hours and pay were worth the hour-long drive from Addis to Lafayette five days a week. Now she says the last few months were nothing but a headache since she's owed thousands of dollars.

"It's like a slap in the face, it's very hurtful," Melody said.

She started working at Moore Healthcare Group under Dr. Patrick Moore in December 2018. The time she spent at her new job quickly turned to frustration, after her check bounced in February.

"Initially, they said it was a payroll glitch," she said. "But then weeks went by and then another month before I got reimbursed for that money."

Melody says she wasn't reimbursed until April and had to take out a loan to make ends meet for her family. The next couple of checks were fine, but then a few days ago the same thing happened.

"I go to cash a check that's almost $8,000 and the bank tells me there's no funds," she said.

Melody is still unable to cash her check from May 10, 2019. The check is signed, but her bank tells her there are not enough funds in the account to cash. When she found this out, she quit her job. Thursday, she checked again and the bank reports the same information, that there are not enough funds to cash the check.

Thursday afternoon, Dr. Moore returned 2 On Your Side's Brittany Weiss' phone call, but he didn't have a comment about Melody's check. The doctor owns clinics in the Baton Rouge area, too. For now, Melody's stuck because the only recourse she has is to take the doctor to court.