Demos Parneros claims his reputation has been ‘irrevocably damaged’
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The former CEO of global bookseller Barnes & Noble is suing the organization over his recent termination. Demos Parneros claims Barnes & Noble fired him without due cause and “irrevocably damaged” his reputation.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court on Tuesday, asks for severance, damages and lost wages – simultaneously alleging a breach of his employment contract.
Parneros was fired last month for alleged policy violations after just 14 months into the role. And, despite Parneros’ affirmations, Barnes & Noble labelled the lawsuit as “nothing but an attempt to extort money from the company by a CEO who was terminated for sexual harassment, bullying behaviour and other violations of company policies after being in the role for approximately one year”.
In the lawsuit, Parneros blames Barnes & Noble founder, Leonard Riggio, for engineering his “firing without cause”. The complaint claims Riggio told Parneros the day before he was fired that he was being terminated for “violating the sexual harassment policy”, citing alleged “interactions with an executive assistant”.
According to the, Riggio became hostile towards Parneros after a take-over agreement fell through in June.
"There was no suggestion that the failure of the deal was in any respect Parneros' fault," the complaint read.
After his termination, Barnes & Noble claimed that Parneros’ firing was not related to disagreements over financial practices, and that Parneros would not be receiving severance.
UPDATE: Former CEO Demos Parneros and Barnes & Noble have amicably settled all claims regarding his termination in 2018. This matter has been resolved with no judicial determination of wrongdoing. The terms of the settlement are confidential. Dated: October 14, 2020.
