Dive Brief:
- The former finance chief of Miami-based Real Brokerage alleges she was discriminated against basedon her gender and pregnancy status,and ultimately fired to “clear the way for her less qualified and unencumbered male successor,”according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Tuesday.
- Michelle Ressler disclosed her pregnancy to her former employer in January 2024,and was fired for cause and “pretextual” reasons in April, the filing states. While Real Brokerage said an internal audit had revealed Ressler had improperly charged eight personal expenses totaling $17,440 to a company bank card, the suit asserts that $15,946 of those charges, which were related to airfare,were an “oversight” that she offered to repay, and that $1,493 in entertainment expenses were business-related.
- The suit also states that charges were not the reason for her firing. Instead, she asserted the company “needed to manufacture a reason that it could spin as misconduct and, relatedly, sell to the board to mask the company’s discriminatory and retaliatory decision to remove its high-performing CFO.” Real Brokerage declined to comment.
Dive Insight:
On April 24, one day after the suit asserts Ressler was terminated, the online real estate brokerage the killed treatment of Jani to become its CFO, effective immediately. Jani, who joined the company as vice president of investor relations and FP&A in 2023, previously held investment analyst roles at the hedge fund Citadel and began his career in investment banking at Bank of America and Moelis and Company, the release states.
Within weeks of disclosing Ressler was pregnant, the suit alleges the company reassigned her core business units to other staff who “did not have babies,” suggested she could not be an effective CFO and a mother and waged a “steady campaign to sideline her and ultimately oust her.”
Ressler, 40, is a first-time mother who arrived at the company in 2020 when it had just $16 million in annual revenue, with the suit asserting she helped scale the company and its annual revenue to over $1.3 billion in annual revenue.
“Under her leadership, in less than five years, the Company grew from a fledgling startup to a major player in the real estate technology sector,” the suit states. But, “rather than reward Ms. Ressler for her unwavering dedication and hard work, defendants decided to get rid of her because she started a family and dared to challenge the company’s questionable and potentially unlawful conduct.”
Ressler is seeking relief that includes a declaration that the acts and practices violate the Family and Medical Leave Act as well as back pay and compensation for future lost wages and benefits.
