Market Basket is trying to clean up a Paul Quigley mess.

The grocery chain — mired in a succession battle — sent a “hand-delivered” and “FedEx” letter informing Paul Quigley he was placed on “administrative leave.” It was dated July 4th.

There’s only one problem: they sent it to the wrong Paul Quigley in Barnstable.

“It’s outrageous to send it to the wrong person,” said Paul L. Quigley, who added he’s a loyal Market Basket customer but feels awful about his namesake.

That Paul R. Quigley, a Market Basket veteran now stuck in limbo, said the errant letter speaks volumes about the fight at the popular market.

“It’s not the real Market Basket style. It’s pretty unprofessional,” he told the Herald Friday. “It’s just embarrassing.”

The two Paul Quigleys talked on the Howie Carr Radio show Friday about the confusion with the customer Paul saying he’d like a “10-inch cake with a ‘Sorry’ on it” once this headache is resolved. The executive, Paul, said they’d meet at the Market Basket in Bourne to share a slice.

The letter, shared with the Herald, accuses Paul R. Quigley of “disruptive behavior” and ignoring “warnings” and is now banned from entering any store while on paid administrative leave — “effective immediately.”

A call to the Gunderson law firm in Boston and a Market Basket representative was not successful late Friday.

The Market Basket board of directors announced late this spring that CEO Arthur T. Demoulas, along with “several other employees,” were placed on leave amid “credible allegations that Mr. Demoulas began to plan a disruption of the business and operations of Market Basket with a work stoppage.”

Longtime Market Basket executives placed on paid administrative leave alongside Arthur T. have called the board’s allegations that they were planning a work stoppage “absurd.”

Paul R. Quigley is a District Supervisor and Operations Supervisors Adam Deschene and Esteban Alvarez were each also informed over the last several weeks that they were being suspended. Arthur T. was placed on leave along with his son Telemachus Demoulas, his daughter Madeline Demoulas, Operations Director Joe Schmidt, Grocery Supervisor Tom Gordon and Arthur T.’s brother-in-law, Gerard Lewis.

Paul R. Quigley said he has been at the company for 44 years, starting as a teenager in 1981 and working his way up to be a district manager overseeing 22 stores primarily in the South Shore. Working in the corporate office, Quigley said he has personally seen the change in the office’s atmosphere between May 28 and his own suspension, which he said he received notice of at 6 a.m. on Independence Day.

“It started off with people being apprehensive about what is going on, people being very upset,” Quigley said Thursday, describing a scene of chaos and screaming matches.

“Then it turned into ‘There is nothing to see here. Nothing bad is going to happen to anybody,’” Quigley continued. “At the same time, everybody in the office is asking, ‘Where is our boss?’ … There is a lot of apprehension, a lot of tears, people doing jobs they are not qualified to do.”

The board has stated to the Lowell Sun that it will be business as usual at the chain.

“For years, the Board has sought Arthur Demoulas’s cooperation on corporate governance issues such as large capital expenditures, operating budgets, senior management access and succession planning. Despite only holding a 28 percent share, Arthur has consistently acted as if he were the only shareholder and not accountable to the Board of Directors,” a top spokesman said. “Quinn Emanuel was retained by the Board and is investigating the issue of a planned work disruption and is doing so with the necessary care, efficiency, and sensitivity to the perspectives of everyone involved. In the meantime, Market Basket is operating as always, with the best associates in the business providing the highest quality groceries and prepared foods to its valued customers at the lowest prices around.

“Whatever happens, Market Basket will be run the same—with no changes in the profit-sharing plan, in the continued plan to grow, in continued quality and low prices, in the family ownership, or in anything else,” the statement continued.

Paul L. Quigley, the customer, said this is all “not a joke.” And he’s staying away, he added, until Market Basket fixes this strife.

The Lowell Sun’s Peter Currier contributed.