Two longtime Market Basket executives have said they expect to lose their jobs as part of a decision to put the company’s CEO on leave, according to published reports.
The Friday decision by Demoulas Super Markets, which runs the iconic Boston-area supermarket chain, puts CEO Arthur T. Demoulas’s future on the line, according to NBC-10 in Boston.
But it also appears to mean that the company’s operations manager, Joe Schmidt, a 39-year veteran, and grocery supervisor Tom Gordon, a 49-year veteran, are headed for the exits, the station reported.
Schmidt and Gordon were also put on leave this week, but say they were not given specific reasons why. Both spoke in an interview outside Market Basket’s Reading store on Friday afternoon, according to The Boston Business Journal.
“They had letters, and they stated that they wanted to speak to certain individuals. I spoke with them,” Schmidt said of two company directors, the Business Journal reported. “They told me that I was being placed on administrative leave due to some allegations that I’ve had inappropriate conduct of some type, without giving me any indication as to what that would be.”
“That’s something that I take great exception to,” Schmidt added. “I’ve been with the company for 39 years, and every single day I’m trying to do what’s in the best interest of Demoulas Super Markets, and for two essential strangers to come in and tell me that my conduct is somehow damaging the corporation with Demoulas Super Markets and Market Basket, quite frankly, was insulting.”
The public relations firm representing the board, Seven Letter, put out a statement disputing the claim that Schmidt and Gordon weren’t told why they were being placed on leave.
“Joseph Schmidt and Tom Gordon each received letters specifically notifying them of the basis for their suspensions with pay, including that they have been actively pressuring associates to participate in an improper work disruption,” the firm said in its statement. “As we also informed them, we are conducting an investigation to get to the bottom of it. Therefore, any suggestion that they are not aware of the basis for their suspensions is simply not true.”
