18 hours Ago By Mike Rogoway, Noelle Crombie
Former Pacific Office Automation CEO Doug Pitassi sued his old company for $70 million on Wednesday, alleging that it evicted him from his office and then fired him without paying him a bonus it owed or cashing out his shares in the business. The Beaverton company put Pitassi on leave in October , shortly after The Oregonian/OregonLive reported on years of sexual harassment and abuse allegations against him by employees and his conviction in the 1980s of criminal misconduct against two students when he was a high school teacher. Pacific Office Automation fired Pitassi on Dec.
30, according to the lawsuit. He says the company owes him at least $50 million for his 10% stake in the business, plus $19 million in unpaid bonuses and possibly more in unpaid dividends. >> Fired Pacific Office Automation CEO, accused of sexually abusing employees, settles $20M lawsuit Corporate counsel Andrew Salgado said the company was served with the lawsuit Thursday and declined comment until he had the opportunity to thoroughly review it.
The lawsuit names Pacific Office Automation and its founder, Terry Newsom, as defendants. It also names Newsom’s wife and sons, all of whom serve as company board members, and Salgado in his capacity as human resources director. It alleges “breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duties” and “oppressive conduct.
” The filing offers a glimpse into the privately held company’s internal operations and its response to the scandal that erupted last year after The Oregonian/OregonLive’s extensive reporting on Pitassi’s hush money payouts. In the lawsuit, Pitassi, 63, alleges that “underperforming” employees made spurious allegations against him over alleged sexual misconduct. He says the real issue was that he was a gay man, raised a devout Catholic, in a prominent corporate role.
“Defendants capitalized on Mr. Pitassi’s discomfort with his sexuality — Mr. Pitassi is gay — in an attempt to alienate him and intimidate him from defending himself against POA’s baseless claims so they could pocket his money,” the lawsuit alleges.
Pacific Office Automation provides copiers, printers and other technology equipment and services to businesses and government offices. The privately held company employs nearly 1,400 people in 33 offices across nearly a dozen states and reported $491 million in sales last year. Though it operates in a low-profile industry, Pacific Office Automation is well known in the Portland area because of sponsorships with professional, college and high-school sports.
It is a top sponsor of the Portland Trail Blazers and advertises frequently on the NBA team’s broadcasts. In 1987, while working as a high school teacher in Gresham, Pitassi pleaded guilty to sexually abusing one student and exposing himself to another. He left teaching after that and joined Pacific Office Automation two years later, rising to become company president in 2007 and CEO in 2018.
The lawsuit says the company awarded him a 10% stake in the business in 2011. Under terms of his latest employment agreement, Pacific Office Automation paid Pitassi a $700,000 annual base salary, increasing it by 3.2% each year.
The company also paid him a $21 million bonus in 2018 and $19 million in 2019, but the suit alleges the company still owes him another $19 million bonus. While Pitassi was leading Pacific Office Automation, at least five former employees alleged he had sexually abused them. Pitassi previously settled with three of them; he settled with two others this spring .
Terms of the agreements are confidential, but Pitassi paid one former employee $1.85 million, according to settlement documents obtained by The Oregonian/OregonLive. In Thursday’s lawsuit against his former company, Pitassi says he “poured his life into the business” only to be accused of “disloyalty” and forced from his job.
He says the company demanded he leave his office, then boxed up his belongings and put them in a warehouse. After Pitassi was told to step aside, he alleges the Newsom family and Salgado launched an “internal investigation into Mr. Pitassi’s private life in an effort to undermine and embarrass Mr.
Pitassi, and to intimidate those with whom he had personal friendships.” He said they sought to alienate him from employees, his family and friends “in order to minimize any support Mr. Pitassi could garner once POA carried out its pre-determined plan to terminate Mr.
Pitassi so they could deny him his remaining bonus payment and keep it for themselves to wrongfully enhance the value of their holdings.” In November, the suit alleges, Pacific Office Automation warned Pitassi it planned to fire him at a board meeting on Dec. 30 — two days before his employment contract expired.
The lawsuit says Pitassi sought a brief delay in the board meeting, “because he was under a doctor’s care for emotional stress,” but that Pacific Office Automation refused. — Mike Rogoway covers Oregon technology and the state economy. Reach him at mrogoway@oregonian.
com or 503-294-7699. — Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184; ncrombie@oregonian.
com.
