A former top Business School administrator said yesterday that he and a colleague were unfairly forced to resign last month after a dispute with their boss.

Raymond P. Gomes, former director of operations for the school, said he and Stephen G. Hayes, former operations manager, were forced to resign February 4 because of a "disagreement over policy" with John M. Strickland chief of administrative operations.

Gomes said he could not specify further details about the argument because of a clause in his resignation papers.

But according to sources, the disagreement centered on the payment of three part-time employees who helped move faculty officer into newly renovated spaces in baker Library. The sources, however, could not further specify the cause of the dispute.

"The answer is I did nothing wrong," said Gomes, 43, who worked at the Business School for more than 24 years. "I think the punishment in being forced to resign far exceeded what they perceived to be a crime."

Gomes, who directed the department for six years, said in an interview last week that he was given four hours to decide whether to resign or be fired.

"It's been a traumatic experience for me," he said.

The operations department handles security, custodial services, parking and mechanical services at the Business School.

Strickland declined to clarify yesterday why Gomes and Hayes resigned. When asked whether there was a dispute between him and Gomes, Strickland responded, "There very well might [have been]," but refused to comment further.

Members of the operations department approached Last week referred all questions to Loretto F. Crane, the school's director of communications. Crane, the only Business School official authorized to speak to the media, said Monday she "[does] not discuss conditions of employment."

The forced resignation of Gomes and Hayes is only part of a massive administrative shakeup which has radically changed the face of the department of operations since January.

In a little more than one month, three employees were fired, one was promoted twice, and one new position was created. The operations department has six administrative positions.

Strickland, formerly director of human resources, moved to the newly created position of chief of administrative operations on January 1.

One week later, Strickland appointed Robert J. Breslow, associate director at food services, to the vacant position of administrative assistant for conferences and services. Strickland, who yesterday described Breslow as "a fired of mine," said he had worked with Breslow in the human resource department for six years.

Two weeks later, Breslow was promoted to assistant manager at operational support services (OSS). The OSS position became available, sources said, after Strickland gave employee Paul M. Halloran one week to resign " or else be micro-managed to the point of insanity."

Halloran resigned three days later.

Gomes said yesterday that Hallo-ran was not fit for the job held.

"Halloran mismanaged certain situations," said Gomes, who added that he issued numerous letters of reprimand over a tow-year period. " He made a lot of mistakes."

But Gomes also said Halloran's resignation "isn't really unrelated" top his own resignation.

Halloran could not be reached for comment.

Breslow was recently promoted again to director to administrative services at the operations department. He now reports directly to Strickland, who is looking for another person to manage OSS.

Breslow on Monday referred all questions to Crane. Crane refused to comment on the issue yesterday.

But Strickland said yesterday that Breslow's promotions made sense because he wanted to combine the food services with the operations department.

Breslow still holds his job at food services in addition to his new duties.

"We're trying to make this the best operation department that it can be," Strickland said. "We're looking at the jobs in different ways. There is always room for improvement."

Ann f. McNamara, a former conference coordinator at the Harvard School of Public Health, was recently name the new administrative assistant for conferences and services, the job Breslow held at operations for two weeks before his first promotion.

Gomes also denied a February 12 report in The Crimson that he sold tickets to sporting events and that he was escorted off the campus by Harvard Police.

Joe Mathews contributed to the reporting of this article.