Bed Bath & Beyond is being sued by Mark Tritton, who was ousted as CEO of the home goods retailer in June.
In a complaint filed 31 March in a Manhattan court, Tritton accused the ailing company of failing to honour his US$6,765,000 severance agreement.
According to the complaint, Bed Bath & Beyond stopped making required bi-monthly payments in January with the need to preserve cash cited as the reason.
Tritton also accused the company of ‘bad faith’ for proposing a buyout of his severance at a discount but only if performance improves, even as it has resumed paying severance to some former employees.
Bed Bath & Beyond has been trying to turn around its financial situation for some time.
It is closing hundreds of stores and, on 30 March, filed a prospectus supplement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, under which it may offer and sell up to $300m of shares of its common stock.
In February, it raised $225m via an underwritten public offering of shares of Series A convertible preferred stock.
Bed Bath & Beyond has also made c-suite changes following Tritton’s removal.
Sue Gove was appointed President and CEO in October and Bart Sichel joined as EVP, Chief Marketing and Customer Officer in November.
The promotion of Scott Lindblom to Chief Technology and Digital Officer was announced shortly after.
These changes followed the death of CFO Gustavo Arnal, who fell from a Manhattan skyscraper in September.
