EDEN PRAIRE, MINNESOTA — Starkey Laboratories’ ousted president, Jerry Ruzicka, on Friday filed a long-threatened lawsuit against the company, alleging several instances of wrongdoing by owner Bill Austin and members of his family.
In a story first reported on the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s website on January 15, former Starkey executive Jerry Ruzicka, filed a lawsuit claiming defamation of character and wrongful termination in retaliation for whistleblower actions he took regarding alleged wrongdoing inside Starkey that included diverting funds and falsifying tax reports. He also claimed that the terms of Starkey’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan were violated by the company, Austin and Brandon Sawalich, a company vice president and Austin’s stepson.
As part of his lawsuit, Ruzicka submitted a copy of his employment contract and an amendment and says he is owed $8.7 million in promised future wages and a 10 percent stake in the company.
Jerry Ruzicka
According to the Star Tribune report, Ruzicka claims he was fired in retaliation for reporting “company improprieties that Austin and Sawalich were engaged in,” said Ruzicka’s attorney Marshall Tanick. The lawsuit also said Ruzicka refused “to participate in actions that he regarded, in good faith, as unlawful.”
Ruzicka’s lawsuit also claims Austin used Starkey money to pay for $30 million in movie production expenses for another of Austin’s stepsons, Steven Sawalich. It further says Starkey paid Steven Sawalich’s entertainment company $20 million that was never repaid and accused Austin of falsifying paperwork to justify expense write-offs and to have the bad debt written off Starkey’s books.
The lawsuit claims Brandon Sawalich used more than $300,000 in company funds to remodel and maintain his home and also accuses him of keeping an undisclosed amount of money set aside for customer rebates.Other allegations include Austin and his family not reimbursing the company for personal use of the company plane and Brandon Sawalich and Tani Austin, Bill Austin’s wife and the Sawaliches’ mother, diverting at least $200,000 per month of company money over an unspecified amount of time to another company they own that is based in Illinois.
Further, the lawsuit said Bill Austin is not licensed in the state of Minnesota to make ear impressions and fit hearing aids, but he did so anyway, leading to damages of at least $4.5 million. As a result, the lawsuit said, Starkey is unable to obtain professional liability malpractice insurance for Bill Austin.
Company Reaction to Claims
David B. Olson, an attorney for Starkey, responded by saying that the company cannot comment on the specifics of the lawsuit but denied the allegations. In addition, “we are confident that the investigation will show that [fired president Jerry Ruzicka] abused the trust that was placed in him, by among other things, stealing millions of dollars from the company and its employees over a period of several years.”
An investigation is currently being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Internal Revenue Service and other law enforcement agencies.
It came to public light in November, when FBI and IRS agents raided Ruzicka’s home, taking records, computers and a car. Ruzicka’s attorney has said his client did nothing wrong and welcomed the investigation.
Other Complaints Filed
Ruzicka, who had worked for Starkey for 38 years and was president since 1998, filed another complaint with the American Arbitration Association stating that Starkey violated a lucrative “deferred-compensation” contract and amendment.
Ruzicka’s employment agreement stipulated that any disputes of this kind had to be remedied through arbitration.
Specifically, Ruzicka’s arbitration filing said that under his contract, which would have expired this month, he was to receive his same salary and bonus for the next 10 years, a sum worth roughly $8.7 million. Ruzicka said he was also promised 10 percent of the company’s fair market value upon CEO Bill Austin’s disability or death, or upon a change of ownership at Starkey.
“The company is valued at about $1 billion, so 10 percent of that is $100 million that he gets whenever Austin becomes disabled or dies or sells,” Tanick said, adding that Ruzicka wants arbitrators to insure that his compensation and ownership agreements are not violated.
Audiologists and HAS are forced to provide the excessive margins charged by hearing aid manufacturers. If reading this article does not motivate them to step back and drop their current buying habits and join a GPO like AUDNET where BULK PURCHASING is provided using a GPO regulated and ethical business structure like 95 % of USA hospitals do – then their is no hope for the traditional Audiology and HAS private practice, ENT, University and Hospital venues to buy the products they need to help their patients at any where near a reasonable cost. FORCE attained by Bulk Purchasing is the ONLY option manufactures will understand. Period.
Riiiight.
Get your check from a distributor?
I will never understand the level of greed that exists at the high income level these folks in question already exist in. Totally puzzling to me.