The former CEO of Leisure Arts Inc. of Maumelle is hauling the company into court, saying he was fired without cause in June and he’s now owed at least $2 million.
For 25 years, Fred Pruss worked for the 49-year-old company, which produces lifestyle and craft instruction publications, e-books, digital downloads and other products.
He spent the last six and a half years as CEO before being terminated on June 30.
On Jan. 1, 2019, Pruss had signed an agreement with the company that said he would work for the company for five years at a base annual salary of $285,000 and bonuses.
The problems started months after he signed the agreement, according to the lawsuit filed by attorney Brian A. Vandiver of Cox Sterling McClure & Vandiver PLLC of North Little Rock.
Cynthia Morris, through her PA Distribution of Eugene, Oregon, bought Leisure Arts in July 2019 from a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast Corp. of Philadelphia, the cable and internet giant.
“In July 2019, if not before, Morris had already determined that she did not want Pruss to remain as the CEO of Leisure Arts and she began a campaign to terminate his employment,” according to the suit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court.
In June, Morris wrote Pruss to tell him he was being terminated.
“I prefer not to detail all the bases for cause in this letter,” she wrote in the letter, which was attached as an exhibit in the case. “I am concerned that doing so will create hard feelings.”
She said she wanted their relationship to end as amicably as possible.
“In summary, cause for termination exists due to your substantial and repeated failure to perform the duties of a CEO, gross negligence and willful misconduct in the performance of those duties, and your material breach of the Employment Agreement,” Morris wrote.
But Pruss said in the lawsuit that none of Morris’ “purported reason for ‘cause’ has any basis in fact.”
He said he “satisfactorily performed his job.”
He is suing Leisure Arts for breach of contract and said he’s owed for unpaid bonuses and lost future wages and bonuses and benefits, which total around $2 million.
Leisure Arts, in a filing last week by David Martin of the Rose Law Firm, denied the allegations of wrongdoing. It also said that the lawsuit is “frivolous, unreasonable and groundless.”
The company said it is entitled to attorneys’ fees and other costs associated with the case.
Morris said in an email to Whispers last week that “Leisure Arts cannot comment on personnel matters or pending litigation.”
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