What to Know
- Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas was placed on leave back in May due to allegations that he and other best executives were organizing an “improper work disruption”
- Demoulas has called the board’s investigation “a farcical cover for a hostile takeover”
- A mediation session between the two sides is planned for Sept. 3 to help settle the ongoing dispute
- In the meantime, Market Basket filed a legal complaint this week seeking a restraining order against fired former executives Joseph Schmidt and Tom Gordon, saying they have been visiting stores in an effort to “intimidate employees, to precipitate a work slowdown, employee walkout and customer boycott”
- The judge decided to grant the restraining order, meaning Schmidt and Gordon are not allowed on company property
This live blog about Thursday’s Market Basket hearing has ended. More coverage here.
The ongoing Market Basket saga landed in court Thursday, as the company sought a restraining order against two of its fired executives.
The hearing was held at 10 a.m. in Lowell District Court, with the judge ultimately siding with Market Basket and granting the restraining order.
Market Basket claims Joseph Schmidt, the store’s former director of operations, secretly held onto his master key and trespassed going into company headquarters in Tewksbury and a store in Somerville, where Schmidt was captured on surveillance video waving to the security DSLR.
The company also alleges Schmidt and former grocery supervisor Tom Gordon traveled to more than 20 store locations in multiple states to speak with employees as part of a concerted effort to possibly spur a boycott. They say the men were acting on behalf of suspended CEO Arthur T. Demoulas to get all three reinstated.
The legal filing is the up-to-date move in a fight between Demoulas and his longtime deputies on one side and Demoulas’s three sisters and the company directors who represent them as shareholders on the other. Demoulas had been put on leave in May due to allegations that he, along with the two today-fired executives, were organizing an “improper work disruption.”
A judge ruled in favor of Market Basket on Thursday morning, granting a restraining order preventing two fired executives from trespassing on company property.
Here’s a recap of what happened in court:
NBC10 Boston has a new podcast called, Food Feud: Market Basket, that’s closely following the unfolding saga at the New England grocery store chain. It’s available wherever you listen to podcasts.
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