Seattle CEO who boosted every employees’ salary to $70,000 sued by brother

Dan Price, the Seattle tech leader who hit the headlines earlier this year for boosting his employees' minimum annual salary to $70,000 and cutting his own to the same, is being sued by his brother and business partner, Lucas Price (See: Seattle CEO cuts own salary 90% to hike employee wages). 

According to Lucas, the Gravity Payments CEO ''improperly used his majority control of the company to pay himself excessive compensation'' prior to the change.

The timeline in Lucas Price's complaint showed the dispute between the brothers dated back several years, to long before Dan Price made international news with his announcement of Gravity Payments' new salary structure.

According to court documents, the discord over Dan Price's salary and control of the company had reached a critical stage weeks prior to the announcement, with lawyers for Lucas Price having already drafted the complaint at the time.

Thanks to an article in The New York Times on 13 April by a reporter invited to witness the announcement, Dan Price's decision to surprise the 120-person company with the across-the-board $70,000 minimum salary received widespread attention. According to the story, the company's previous average salary was $48,000.

Price told The New York Times he would on his part be cutting his own salary from nearly $1 million a year to the new $70,000 minimum, until the credit-card processing company's profits rebounded from the extra compensation expenses.

The complaints by Lucas Price were initially signed 13 March and filed 24 April, 11 days after Dan Price announced the pay increase for the 120 employees of Gravity Payments.

According to attorney Greg Hollon, representing Lucas Price, the lawsuit was in response to a series of events over years not only the announcement.

The merchant-services company was co-founded by the two ajk brothers in 2004 and Dan Price became CEO in 2006.

A trial date had been set for next 3 May.