Ben & Jerry's accused Unilever, her parent company, of firing his Chief Executive because he allowed the ice maker to speak out about political issues, according to a complaint that was submitted on Tuesday to the federal court in Manhattan.
In the application, Ben & Jerry's said that Unilever David Stever had fired because of his dedication to the social mission of the company instead of his work performance. He had kept the best job of the ice cream company since 2023.
“Unilever has repeatedly threatened the staff of Ben & Jerry, including CEO David Stever, if she does not meet Unilever's efforts to silence the social mission,” said Ben & Jerry's in submitting.
Unilever informed the board of Ben and Jerry on March 3 that it was planning to remove and replace Mr Stever as Chief Executive, the application said. This was done without the approval of an advisory board and went against an agreement that the two companies signed when they merged in 2000, Ben & Jerry claimed in the submission. It added that “under the term of office of Mr Stever, Ben & Jerry's the ice portfolio of Unilever exceeded.”
In 2024, the sale at Ben & Jerry's grew faster than at Magnum, one of the most important ice brands of Unilever, according to a Unilever presentation about financial performance.
Under the acquisition agreement between the two companies, Unilever agreed to have Ben & Jerry's maintained an independent board to supervise the brand. This allowed Ben & Jerry's 'guardrails' to place around his social activism and gave the founders constant control over the company.
The amended complaint that was submitted on Tuesday was part of a lawsuit that Ben & Jerry tensioned in November that Unilever accused of censorship and threats about the efforts of the ice maker to provide support to Palestinian refugees.
That lawsuit claimed that Unilever tried to dismantle the independent administration of the ice maker and to prevent it from taking care of certain political positions, including the calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, in support of American students protesting against civil dead in the territory and an end to American military aid for Israel.
Unilever did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last year it said in a statement that it would be strongly defending against the accusations in the court case.
Ben & Jerry's did not respond to a request for comments.
Unilever said in an e-mail statement that, under the merger agreement, decisions about the appointment and removal of the Chief Executive of the Ben & Jerry would be “made by Unilever after good faith and discussion” with the independent board of Ben & Jerry.
“Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts to involve the board and follow the right process, we are disappointed that the confidentiality of a career interview of an employees has been made public,” said the e -mail. “We hope that the B&J Independent Board will act according to the original, agreed process.”
The founders of Ben & Jerry's, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, have long been pronounced about social issues. Tensions flared up in 2021, when Ben & Jerry's said it would stop selling his ice in areas occupied by Israel.
In March 2024, Unilever announced plans to turn off his ice unit, including Ben & Jerry's. The move is expected to be completed at the end of this year and, if successful, the 25-year-old, often rocky marriage between the two companies will end.
