At a Glance

  • A federal judge on Tuesday approved extending the attorney mediation deadline in a lawsuit filed in June by the former treasurer of Miami-based Real Brokerage, alleging the company discriminated against her based on sex and pregnancy and fired her on fabricated grounds to "clear the way for a less capable male successor without family obligations."
  • Judge Analisa Torres granted the joint request from attorneys for former Chief Financial Officer Michelle Ressler and her former employer's lawyers, paving the way for their proposed full-day private mediation on October 30, according to documents filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
  • The order comes nearly two months after Torres paused litigation deadlines in an August 26 filing "pending mediation," with a joint progress update originally due October 10. On October 10, the parties effectively requested more time, suggesting extending the deadline to report mediation results to November 6, which the judge then granted.

Deep Dive

Attorneys for Ressler and Real Brokerage did not respond to requests for comment. Ressler seeks relief including back pay and "front pay for loss of future wages and benefits," and requests the court declare the conduct violated the Family and Medical Leave Act, while also seeking back pay and compensation for loss of future wages and benefits.

The amended complaint filed in July describes Ressler as a 40-year-old Black woman, a new mother with a daughter, working in a "historically male-dominated financial services and real estate technology industry," who was terminated on April 23, 2025, about three months after returning from maternity leave.

The complaint alleges Michelle Ressler disclosed her pregnancy to her former employer in January 2024 and was fired in April for "cause" and "pretextual" reasons. Real Brokerage claimed an internal audit found Ressler improperly charged eight personal expenses totaling $17,440 to the company card, but the lawsuit argues $15,946 of that related to airfare was "inadvertent" and she offered to repay it, while $1,493 in entertainment expenses was business-related.

The lawsuit also alleges Ressler faced retaliation after raising financial concerns to the company's CEO Tamir Poleg, including "lack of compliance and financial infrastructure for newly launched financial products, premature product launches before accounting, finance, or back-office readiness, and significant risk exposure from product plans."

The amended complaint states: "The Company used Ms. Ressler's complaints and concerns about financial, regulatory, and compliance risks as a basis to further diminish her role and authority and ultimately terminate her employment."

In April, Real Brokerage appointed Ravi Jani to replace Ressler; Jani joined the company in 2023 as Vice President of Investor Relations and Financial Planning & Analysis. The company said in a press release at the time that Ressler "was terminated because the company believed her conduct violated company policy."

According to The Real Deal, Real Brokerage has risen to become the fifth-largest residential real estate brokerage in the nation, partly due to its costly but generous commission splits and revenue-sharing arrangements offered to agents.