News Flash Overview:

  • According to a letter submitted to the court last week by Ressler's attorney, online real estate brokerage Real Brokerage has reached an "agreement in principle" to settle the pregnancy discrimination lawsuit filed by its former Chief Financial Officer, Michelle Ressler.
  • Judge Analisa Torres of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed the case after being informed of the settlement, noting in an order signed on November 6 that "if the settlement is not finalized, the parties have the right to move to restore the action within 30 days from the date of this order," and directed the court to close the case.
  • Under the settlement terms, which still require finalization, the Miami-based residential brokerage stated it will "not pay any amount to Ressler," and the former CFO will reimburse the company for personal expenses that the company claims were made using its corporate credit card.

In-Depth Analysis:

The announcement of the settlement comes less than a month after the judge granted the parties additional time for mediation. The lawsuit, filed in June, alleged that the company discriminated against Ressler based on gender and pregnancy, terminating her about three months after she returned from maternity leave on fabricated grounds, in order to "clear the way for her less senior male successor who had no family obligations."

Ressler had previously sought remedies including back pay and "front pay for future lost wages and benefits," and requested that the court declare the company's actions violated the Family and Medical Leave Act. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the Family and Medical Leave Act, enacted in 1993, allows eligible U.S. employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for family or medical reasons, including the birth, adoption, or placement of a child.

A spokesperson for Allison Van Kampen, an attorney at Outten & Golden, the law firm representing Ressler, did not respond to an email inquiry from CFO Dive asking why her client appeared to accept a settlement that did not include any payment from Real Brokerage.

"The parties have reached an agreement in principle, and Ms. Ressler looks forward to the resolution of this matter," the company said in a statement from Van Kampen sent via email by a spokesperson.

Although Real Brokerage claimed that an internal audit showed Ressler improperly charged eight personal expenses totaling $17,440 to the company card, the lawsuit maintained that $15,946 of that amount, related to airfare, was "inadvertent" and she had offered to repay it, while $1,493 in entertainment expenses were business-related, CFO Dive previously reported.

Attorneys for Real Brokerage did not immediately respond to requests for comment.