ASPEN — The Aspen Skiing Co. fired ski instructor Lee Mulcahy on Monday in the latest chapter of a very public and bitter dispute between the former top-producing teacher and his employer.

The Skico took the unusual step of releasing a statement from President and CEO Mike Kaplan to its employees and the media outlining why it fired Mulcahy. Personnel decisions are usually very discreet. In the statement, Kaplan said Mulcahy “no longer meets the standards required to be a ski pro with the Ski and Snowboard Schools of Aspen.”

Kaplan said Mulcahy's distribution of fliers in The Little Nell hotel criticizing the Crown family, owners of the hotel and Skico, and bad-mouthing Skico's ski school pay policies while he was in uniform were the “final straw in a long history of blatant violations of our policies and a failure to exercise good judgment, the most important requirements of any employee.”

Mulcahy slipped fliers under doors of guest rooms at the hotel and he distributed them in the hotel's dining room Dec. 30. He also distributed fliers in the Silver Queen Gondola Plaza to skiers and riders during what was one of the busiest days of the ski season. The fliers criticized the Crowns for allegedly not paying a living wage at Skico despite making so much money off the private lessons.

Mulcahy was suspended with pay for about one week, then suspended without pay for about three weeks.

Kaplan claimed Mulcahy's firing wasn't an effort to quiet a rogue employee.

“If anyone is concerned that this decision somehow stifles freedom of expression, I can assure you that is not the case,” his statement said. “Again, our track record speaks for itself as we have often been criticized publicly by our employees and we have never taken disciplinary action against those individuals.”

Mulcahy surprised and angry

Skico officials informed an attorney representing Mulcahy in recent meetings with the Skico about the decision Monday and he said he would tell Mulcahy, according to Skico spokesman Jeff Hanle. But Mulcahy said he was unaware of the decision when contacted by The Aspen Times at 5:05 p.m. Monday.

“You're kidding,” he said when informed he was terminated.

Mulcahy added, “Judging from the history of tolerance of the Aspen Skiing Company, yes. How can it not be?”

Mulcahy said he finds if difficult to believe a company in America can first suspend, then fire an employee for speaking out against company policies.

In a statement he e-mailed to The Aspen Times, Mulcahy raised the prospect that he might have sealed his fate by repeatedly mentioning Crown family members by name in his letters to the editor and fliers. His campaign received notice in newspaper in Chicago, where the Crowns live.

“Was the attention on the Crown's hypocrisy for not paying a living wage from the Chicago press a bit too glaring?” Mulcahy wrote in his statement. “When the message is indefensible, attack the messenger. Who suspends and then fires an employee protesting the low wages of beginner instructors?”

Disagreement on disagreeing

The Skico and Mulcahy cannot even agree on how long the feud has gone on or the root causes.

The Skico said there have been performance issues “for years.” Mulcahy said he has been targeted since May, when he wrote a letter criticizing the Skico for firing local musician Dan Sheridan for singing a song a company executives didn't feel was appropriate. Sheridan was offered his job back a short time later and the company said the issue was mishandled internally because of a miscommunication.

Mulcahy claimed he was for a time the highest-producing ski instructor at the Skico's four ski areas and was the most requested instructor. He was a member of the Diamond Club, a group of the most successful teachers. He started teaching skiing in the 1997-98 season.

Mulcahy contends he was demoted last August after he started complaining about the pay scale for lower level instructors and after he talked with other instructors about the possibility of forming a union to represent them in bargaining with Skico management.

Mulcahy filed two charges with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against the Skico in October. He alleged the company took retaliatory action against him for voicing his concerns about pay for beginning instructors and for approaching other teaches about a union. In his second allegation, he claimed the ski school management structure is potentially unlawful and designed to prevent establishing union representation.

The NLRB is looking into the allegation but hasn't decided yet if they have merit, a spokeswoman said last month.

Dueling smokescreens?

Since the 2010-11 ski season started, Mulcahy has fired a constant barrage at the Skico on the pay issue. He formed a group called People for a Living Wage to promote better pay for instructors and he has enlisted friends to write letters to the local newspapers on the topic. It's difficult to gauge what level of support his effort has generated. About 30 ski instructors attended a meeting called by Mulcahy to discuss the topic, but most were critical of him and his efforts.

Hanle said the issues the Skico has had with Mulcahy over the years have been “performance related.” He wouldn't elaborate.

Mulcahy was suspended with pay in December after distributing the flier critical of the Crowns. That was converted to a suspension without pay when he failed to meet with the Skico in early January over the investigation.

In his statement, Kaplan defended the Skico's pay scale and indicated Mulcahy's campaign is a smokescreen for other issues.

“We pay the best, but we also expect the best and Lee has been told on multiple occasions, over several years, first verbally and later as a final written warning that he needs to make immediate and significant changes in his performance to continue working at Aspen Skiing Company,” Kaplan wrote. “These performance related issues and warnings pre-date Lee's recent activities. Ultimately, Lee refused to listen to the warnings he had been given — he refused to change his behavior.”

Mulcahy countered that the alleged performance issues are the real smokescreen for the Skico firing an employee who won't toe the company line. He said he wanted the company to reinstate him as an instructor and agree to look into the pay issues.

Now, he said, he will seek assistance to get his job back.

“It will be up to the National Labor Relations Board to get my job back,” he said. “That's what they do.”

Hanle said Skico officials have no way of knowing if Mulcahy's firing will influence the inquiry by the NLRB. The company has been cooperating in full with the agency, he said, and it believes its decision regarding Mulcahy was justified.

“We will fully defend ourselves,” he said.

scondon@aspentimes.com