Michela, whose departure was announced in a brief filing by the company late last week, has filed a lawsuit against his former employer accusing the company of violating multiple parts of his employment and compensation agreements.
This is the latest in a series of challenging developments for the well-being company, which battled with an activist investor group from late 2013 to mid-2014 before reaching a compromise and just announced a new CEO to replace its longtime leader Ben Leedle, who had been a frequent target of the activist group.
When Leedle left Healthways in May of this year, multiple parties, including CFO and interim CEO Alfred Lumsdaine, encouraged Michela to apply for the job, according to the lawsuit. He did so, and was interviewed. In August, however, the company announced Board Chairman Donato Tramuto would serve as its new president and CEO, effective Nov. 1.
Although Tramuto suggested to Michela he believed the COO could be his successor in a few year, Michela told the new CEO he’d prefer not “to remain for the long term at Healthways and would like to discuss a mutually agreeable exit plan,” the lawsuit says.
Michela claims he then received a call from Healthways’ senior vice president of human relations where he was told if he did not resign within seven days, the company would publicly disclose he had been terminated for cause. Michela declined to resign, the lawsuit says, and was terminated a week later.
The company has declined additional comment beyond its Aug. 20 filing.
The suit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee; a copy of the suit was provided to the Nashville Business Journal by Michela’s attorney, Tara Swafford, of Franklin-based The Swafford Law Firm.
The suit argues Michela is entitled to the benefits laid out for termination without cause in his employment agreement and restricted stock unit agreement because “the facts relied upon by Healthways for the termination do not satisfy the contractual provisions cited by Healthways and conveniently arose after Mr. Michela informed Mr. Tramuto that he would not be staying at the company in the long term.”
