Radoszewski pushes back in court over firing as plastics association CEO

The ousted former CEO of the Plastics Industry Association is pushing back in court over his firing, disputing claims that he violated his employment agreement by not relocating to the Washington, D.C., metro area where the organization is based.

In an Aug. 2 filing in federal court in Dallas, Tony Radoszewski said the global pandemic and his dismissal kept him from relocating from his longtime home in Texas, and he argued that his immediate predecessor in the job lived in Florida while he ran the association.

Radoszewski and the association are embroiled in separate court cases in Texas and Washington over his termination. He was fired as CEO in late March.

Radoszewski argues in lawsuits he filed in Texas that he's owed more than $600,000 in salary, bonus and unreimbursed business expenses because he was let go without cause.

The plastics association, however, contends in a separate case it brought in federal court in the District of Columbia that Radoszewski violated his employment agreement by not moving to the Washington metro area and that he owes the organization $163,000 for improperly paid expenses, including a one-time relocation bonus of $135,000.

The two parties are arguing over whether the cases should be combined and where they should be tried.

Radoszewski started work as CEO of the association in September 2019, taking over for Bill Carteaux, who had run the organization from 2005 until his death in December 2018 from acute myeloid leukemia.

Before joining the Washington association, Radoszewski was CEO of the Plastics Pipe Institute in Irving, Texas.

In the Aug. 2 filing, Radoszewski argued against a motion from the association seeking to dismiss his case.

"As will be made clear as this case moves forward, plaintiff [Radoszewski] did, in fact, temporarily move to Washington, D.C., and took significant steps to plan his personal, outside-working-hours living arrangements," he said in the filing. "Two factors prevented his efforts: the global COVID pandemic and defendant's termination of his employment."

He said "there was no meeting of the minds on a relocation agreement" with the association, including details such as when he would move, for how long and whether he would lease or buy a property.

Radoszewski said the pandemic wrecked havoc on the association, forcing its D.C. office to close for two years and cancel the NPE trade show, its single largest revenue source.

But he said he was able to do his job during his tenure, which lasted from September 2019 until he was fired in late March.

"It is undisputed that few if any of defendant's employees, board members and association members resided in Washington, D.C.," his court filing argued. "Plaintiff's immediate predecessor resided in Florida while he served as CEO."

Radoszewski's filing did not name that person, but it apparently refers to Carteaux.

Between Carteaux's death and Radoszewski's appointment, the association was headed by its chief operating officer, Patricia Long, who was interim CEO.

Radoszewski said he was able to manage the group through the difficult conditions of the pandemic and the cancellation of NPE.

"Plaintiff's two-and-a-half-year tenure with defendant was severely impeded by a 24-month-long office closing, work-from-home protocols, cancellation of defendant's largest convention and revenue generator, all due to the pandemic," Radoszewski's filing said.

He argued in his lawsuit he's owed $609,000, including one year of his annual salary of $546,000, because he was fired without cause.

Radoszewski said that an affidavit filed by the association, quoting its chief financial officer, is an admission by the organization that he was doing his job effectively, since it also refers to him handling day-to-day association business, including hiring and firing employees, presiding over association meetings from the Washington office and testifying in-person before Congress.

"Where plaintiff [Radoszewski] laid his head down at night was not a material part of his job and did not impact his job," his filing said. "By defendant's sworn admission, it did not prevent him from doing his job."

In a footnote in the Aug. 2 filing, Radoszewski did acknowledge that he had been paid his 2021 discretionary bonus of $30,000 and unreimbursed business expenses but said that came after he filed his lawsuit.

The association did not comment in detail on Radoszewski's latest filing, instead pointing to a brief statement it made in July where it said it "would have continued to work amicably on all outstanding matters, but Mr. Radoszewski has chosen to have his issues resolved through the courts instead."

In previous court filings, it said Radoszewski was told prior to taking the job that relocating to Washington was a condition of his employment. It also said that his failure to relocate hurt staff morale and its ability to retain employees.

"Mr. Radoszewski arbitrarily, and without a good faith justification, delayed and then effectively refused, to relocate to Washington, D.C.," the group said. "Consequent to this failure to relocate, PLASTICS has suffered significant loss of morale and staff retention."

Prior to his termination in March, several key staff members left the association, including a member of its senior leadership team who left in February but rejoined in July.

In an interview in February, Radoszewski attributed the staff departures to the "Great Resignation" in the U.S. workforce as the pandemic prompted workers to seek new jobs.

In its court filing, the association included the termination letter it sent Radoszewski March 25, where it told him that his "failure to relocate" meant that the organization "suffered significant loss of morale and staff retention, as well as a loss of confidence by staff and board members in its executive's good faith and willingness to fulfill his duties."

In an affidavit filed with the association's lawsuit, Chief Financial Officer Wayne Popham said Radoszewski told him in late 2019 that he would be permanently relocating to the Washington area in the "very near future," so the association paid him the relocation bonus ahead of the move.

The affidavit said Radoszewski told Popham he wanted the relocation bonus paid in 2019 for tax purposes.