TEWKSBURY — Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas said in a statement Tuesday Operations Director Joe Schmidt and Grocery Supervisor Tom Gordon, who were each put on leave in May along with Demoulas, were both fired.

In his statement, Demoulas said Market Basket board member Steven Collins called Schmidt and Gordon Tuesday and informed them of the decision. The two were among several Market Basket employees and executives who were placed on leave at the end of May amid allegations they and Demoulas had been planning a work stoppage.

“In addition to being men of strong character, these are two of the brightest and best grocery store operators in the business, and their extraordinary work has been key to building this company and its culture. This is among the worst decisions that could be made by this board,” said Demoulas in his statement. “Steven Collins of Exeter Capital doesn’t understand this company’s culture. Nor do his fellow board members Jay Hachigian of Gunderson Dettmer and Michael Keyes of Intercontinental Real Estate. To them, Tom, after 50 years with the company, and Joe after 39 years, are easily cast aside. They are just collateral damage in this pre-planned coup.”

Demoulas went on to call Schmidt and Gordon “part of the heart and soul of the company and key executives in its immense success to date.”

“They are men of integrity and honor and belong on the Market Basket team, and we will use all efforts to reverse this heartless and unwarranted decision,” Demoulas concluded.

The current corporate turmoil within the eastern New England grocery chain became public on May 28, when the board announced Demoulas, Schmidt, Gordon, Demoulas’ brother-in-law Gerard Lewis, Demoulas’ son Telemachus and his daughter Madeline were being placed on administrative leave. The reason given by the board was what they alleged was a plan by Demoulas and his allies in the company to stage a work stoppage akin to the saga of 2014, when Demoulas had been outright fired from his role as CEO.

Those who were placed on leave have denied the allegation of a work stoppage, but the board also accused Demoulas of withholding key information about the company’s operations and finances, and of not engaging with the board on a succession plan.

Since then, at least three other Market Basket employees, District Supervisor Paul Quigley and Operations Supervisors Adam Deschene and Esteban Alvarez, were also placed on leave over allegations they were engaging in disruptive behavior within the company. The three spoke to The Sun earlier this month and said they were being punished for voicing concerns over Demoulas and the others being placed on leave.

In a lengthy statement Tuesday afternoon from the Market Basket board, they said Schmidt and Gordon were being fired for “insubordination, making false and derogatory remarks about the company and people associated with it, and inappropriate communications with colleagues.” The board claimed an investigation uncovered evidence of a planned work disruption involving Schmidt and Gordon.

“Allegations that Schmidt and Gordon were encouraging a widespread work disruption were a basis for their suspensions. Such a disruption would echo the employee walkout and vendor and customer boycott of 2014 on behalf of Arthur T. Demoulas, the CEO who had been fired by the previous owner of the company, his cousin Arthur S. Demoulas. That disruption cost the company over a half billion dollars ended when Demoulas and his sisters bought the company,” said the board in its statement.

“Among other things, the investigation uncovered evidence that Schmidt and Gordon, following their suspensions, both directly encouraged employees to slow down and disrupt operations at Market Basket, including by telling them to defy their supervisors,” the statement continued. “Referring to Demoulas’s sisters, Market Basket’s majority shareholders, Gordon told at least one associate, ‘the three girls are evil.’ Gordon also reportedly told several Market Basket colleagues that they should ‘choose sides wisely,’ meaning that if they did not side with Demoulas there would be adverse repercussions.”

The board went on to say that, despite warnings, Schmidt defied instructions not to communicate with other employees while he was under suspension, and they claimed Schmidt directly threatened employees.

“One of Schmidt’s direct reports told colleagues he remained in contact with Schmidt following Schmidt’s suspension. That same employee, himself a supervisor, told a subordinate, ‘You’ve got a wife and kids. I want to make sure you know to stay on the right side of this.’ The subordinate understood that statement to be a direct threat,” said the board.

“Schmidt also reportedly told colleagues – falsely – that if Demoulas were removed as CEO they would lose their bonuses and profit sharing. Schmidt has acknowledged to investigators that he had no factual basis for that statement,” the board statement continued. “The investigators learned that in the weeks leading up to his suspension, Gordon reportedly told associates to spread the word throughout the company that the majority shareholders – Demoulas’s sisters – were going to remove Demoulas as CEO, and that Gordon would quit if that happened.”

The board also pointed to Gordon’s visits to stores in Rochester and Salem, New Hampshire, during his suspension when they were barred from any Market Basket property. Gordon and Schmidt told The Sun in June they had visited those stores to congratulate two longtime managers who were retiring.

The investigation in 2025 yielded evidence that Schmidt and Gordon were planning a work disruption to show support for suspended CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, the board said.

“Since their suspensions, Gordon and Schmidt have spent weeks waging an unauthorized media campaign disparaging Market Basket and its board, including through multiple interviews that they acknowledged to investigators were not authorized by the company. During these interviews, Gordon and Schmidt both made numerous false statements about the company and its’ leadership,” said the board.

The board referenced statements Schmidt and Gordon made to The Sun previously, in which Schmidt claimed he was led out of the headquarters by six armed guards.

“As examples, Schmidt falsely told the Lowell Sun that board members were accompanied by six armed security guards when he was suspended in May. Schmidt has acknowledged to investigators that he had no factual basis for the statement, which was in fact false,” said the board. “Schmidt also falsely told the Boston Globe that Market Basket without Demoulas had become a company of ‘distrust, disrespect and fear.’ Schmidt also made up a story about the Board looking to give shares of the company to outsiders and also promising big dividend payments to the shareholders in an interview with Dan Rea on July 14.

“Schmidt further depicted Demoulas’s failure to allow the Board any say in succession of him as CEO as a ‘coup,’ despite knowing that Demoulas’s role as CEO is subordinate to the company’s Board of Directors and that Demoulas is only a minority shareholder in the company only owns 28.4 percent of the company,” the board statement later continued. “While on paid suspension, Gordon openly likewise publicly disparaged the Market Basket Board of Directors, including Board Chair Jay K. Hachigian, telling the Lowell Sun, ‘Jay does not do his job.’ He also told NBC10 that ‘It’s a shame that this great company is being tossed into this turmoil over what seems like a succession plan.’”

The board called these examples of “false statements” by Schmidt and Gordon.

“In sum, the Board of Directors suspended with pay each of Schmidt and Gordon in order to conduct an investigation into credible allegations of improper conduct,” said the board. “Before the investigation was even into its first week, Mr. Schmidt and Mr. Gordon initiated a media campaign to disparage the company, the Board of Directors and the owners and pressured associates – effectively doing in full sight what the Board of Directors suspected before their suspension. They had to know that their behavior (after multiple warnings) would lead to this result.”

Schmidt and Gordon did not immediately comment on their firings.