CEO of Gravity Payments, Dan Price, gained recognition by establishing a standard $70,000 wage for all his employees earlier this year. Now Price is being sued by his brother and co-founder Lucas Price, a minority shareholder, who claims the CEO was being overly generous.
According to the Seattle Times, Lucas Price is suing his brother on accusations of violating his rights as a minority shareholder in the company as well as duty and contract breaches.
Lucas Price signed the complaints on March 13th and filed them April 24th. This was just under two weeks after his brother and CEO of Gravity Payments announced pay raises for all of his 120 employees.
These allegations came at a time when Gravity Payments was receiving much attention from the public after the raise of the minimum wage within the company. Despite the timing, Attorney Greg Hollon, representing Lucas Price, claims the lawsuit is responding to a series of events that took place over years, not to the single decision.
The Times reports that Lucas Price is accusing his brother of withholding shareholder rights and paying himself excessively.
Gravity Payments, the successful merchant-service company, was co-founded by the Price brothers in 2004 and Dan Price became the CEO two years later in 2006.
In an effort to bring the minimum wage up to the $70,000 goal, Dan Price told the credit card processing company’s staff that he would cut his own pay and even forego some of the company’s profits.
Price said “You might be making $35,000 a year right now but everyone in here will definitely be making $70,000 a year and I’m super excited about that.”
This number is in comparison to the gross annual income of $17,000, which stems from a national minimum wage of $7 an hour.
The allegations will be heard in court on May 3rd when the matter goes to trial.
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