Market Basket has removed the last member of its board of directors who supported the retailer’s suspended CEO, as a battle over the New England grocery chain’s leadership continues to unfold, according to Boston-area media reports.
The ousted director, Bill Shea, said he was fired earlier in August because he had attempted to learn details about why the company decided to place its chief executive, Arthur T. Demoulas, on paid administrative leave in May over allegations that he was planning a work stoppage, WBZ reported on Monday. An attorney representing the board, which is controlled by Demoulas’ sisters, said Shea was cut because he had placed loyalty to Demoulas over a “fiduciary responsibility” he has to the company and its customers, the TV station reported.
Also this month, a judge granted a request by Market Basket for a restraining order preventing two former longtime executives, Joseph Schmidt and Tom Gordon, from entering the chain’s stores or other properties, according to WCVB. Market Basket said in a court filing posted online by WPRI that it sought the order because the executives, whom it fired in July, had entered stores and spoken with employees in violation of instructions it issued.
Schmidt and Gordon were let go in connection with what Market Basket said were false statements about the grocer and for improperly communicating with workers, WMUR reported. They had both been previously suspended in May, when Demoulas and other workers were placed on leave amid claims by Market Basket that they were acting to disrupt company operations, according to WCVB.
Market Basket said in the complaint that Schmidt, its former director of operations, and Gordon, who had served as director of grocery, had told associates that they would be reinstated to their positions and that workers “who cooperated with Market Basket management in their absence will be targeted for retribution.”
Schmidt also entered Market Basket’s corporate offices in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, against the company’s orders, the grocer claimed.
Gordon worked for Market Basket for 50 years, while Schmidt was employed by the company for 39 years, the company said in the complaint.
Market Basket did not respond to a request for comment about the company’s actions.
Schmidt and Gordon both said they will abide by the judge’s order, and Demoulas indicated that he supports the former executives, according to WCVB: “Intent matters: once they were fired, they believed they were able to visit the stores and did so not to threaten and intimidate, but to check on people and provide reassurance that things will be OK. We will respect this ruling, but are saddened that it is built on misconceptions about their intent,” Demoulas said in a statement, WCVB reported.
Demoulas and the Market Basket board are set to work with a mediator in September in an effort to sort out the bitter dispute over his leadership of the chain, which operates 90 supermarkets across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine, WBZ reported.
