Viewpoint Construction Software's longtime chief financial officer sued his former employer Friday, alleging the company didn't pay severance benefits it had promised and that it derided his performance after he left.

Ben Ertischek, who served as Viewpoint's CFO from 2009 until last fall, also claims Viewpoint's new managers manipulated the timing of revenue to increase their own bonuses. He's seeking $4.4 million from Viewpoint, its new chief executive and the CFO who replaced him.

"This complaint is utterly without merit, and we will respond vigorously to the many factual inaccuracies and the false and unfair allegations it contains," Viewpoint said in a written statement.

Private equity firm Bain Capital paid $230 million in 2014 for a majority stake in Viewpoint, which makes budgeting and project management software for the construction industry. It's one of Portland's largest technology companies with more than 700 employees worldwide - close to half of them at its headquarters at the east end of the Hawthorne Bridge.

More than a dozen top executives have left Viewpoint since Bain took over two years ago, including the Portland company's chief executive, president, vice president of marketing, director of finance, corporate controller, vice president of human resources and chief technology officer.

Lawsuit and response

Here's

brought Friday against Viewpoint.

And here is the company's

in response.

It's not uncommon for new owners to install their own management teams when they buy companies. However, Ertischek's suit describes a high degree of acrimony and recriminations between some members of Viewpoint's former leadership and the executives who replaced them. Each accuses the other of improper conduct in managing the business' finances.

In the suit, Ertischek alleges the new ownership team cut him out of decision making in his own department and - after he left - hired a forensic accountant to investigate his work and accused him of incompetence to people inside and outside the company.

The lawsuit claims Bain charged the new leadership with significantly increasing Viewpoint's profits, so the company set plans to reduce its workforce 15 to 25 percent. The suit alleges Viewpoint's new CEO, Manolis Kotzabasakis, had a "seven-figure" bonus tied to doubling the company's profits this year.

According to the suit, Viewpoint asked another finance executive to improperly classify some receivables as "uncollectable" during 2015 with the intent of reversing that classification in 2016 to increase this year's profits.

When Ertischek left Viewpoint in September, the company promised to pay him $382,800 over the next 12 months, according to a severance agreement filed with the lawsuit. But the lawsuit says Viewpoint notified him in February that it would stop making those payments, and it stopped paying for his health insurance this month.

The suit says Viewpoint had accused him of breaking a promise not to solicit business from the company's clients or employees, a claim Ertischek denies.

"We advised Mr. Ertischek weeks before this lawsuit was filed that his severance payments would cease because he had violated the terms of his separation agreement and his other legal obligations to Viewpoint during and after his tenure with the company," Viewpoint wrote in its response. It says the lawsuit fails to seriously contest unspecified "misconduct."

Ertischek is seeking additional compensation:

$2.8 million, plus legal costs, alleging Viewpoint violated a promise not to disparage Ertischek.

$1.3 million, alleging actions by Viewpoint, its CEO Kotzabasakis and new CFO Kelly Lang hurt Ertischek's new business, a Pearl District startup called CSquire, which is backed by former Viewpoint CEO Jay Haladay, who ran that company for 25 years before leaving in 2015.

"We can only conclude that this complaint, and some of the actions Mr. Ertischek took both before and after leaving Viewpoint, are expressly intended to blame others for his failings and harm the reputation and employees of a company where he was a well-paid executive for six years," the company wrote.

Former CEO Haladay said he didn't know enough about the specifics about the lawsuit to comment on its merits. But he commended his former lieutenant on his performance at Viewpoint.

"Ben was a dedicated, positive and impactful member of our senior leadership team," Haladay wrote in an email Saturday. "He handled all of his duties with a very high level of integrity."

-- Mike Rogoway

mrogoway@oregonian.com

503-294-7699

@rogoway