A year after the National Association of Realtors was rocked by sexual harassment allegations against its president, a former project manager for the organization has filed a federal lawsuit claiming that several male leaders at the group’s headquarters frequently objectified her.
Roshani Sheth worked at the group’s Chicago headquarters for five years as a staff member at the Realtors Information Network, a N.A.R. subsidiary now known as Realtor.com. She said she was fired in 2019 after reporting that male supervisors had made inappropriate comments about her physical appearance and sex life, according to the lawsuit that Ms. Sheth filed against N.A.R. in a U.S. District Court in Illinois on Tuesday.
Ms. Sheth, who is Indian American, said she had also experienced racial discrimination within the trade organization. “There is no safe place for old white men,” a vice president of N.A.R. said in the workplace, according to the lawsuit.
In August 2023, The New York Times published an article outlining complaints from female employees about Kenny Parcell, then the president of N.A.R., a monolith in the real estate industry with 1.5 million members and $1 billion in assets. Mr. Parcell resigned two days after the article was published.
In subsequent weeks, other top leaders exited, as the powerful trade organization also confronted a landmark legal settlement with a group of homeowners in Missouri that forced it to upend its rules on how real estate agents around the entire country are paid.
N.A.R., founded in 1908, has long held sway over the real estate industry. It has the trademark for the word “Realtor” and tentacles, like Realtor.com, that are familiar to the public yet not always associated with the organization.
The real estate industry is dominated by women who make up two-thirds of agents around the country, but a gender disparity remains in high-ranking positions, and many agents complain about harassment.
In an interview, Ms. Sheth, 36, described an insular culture that delayed her decision to sue. “Real estate is a very tight-knit industry,” she said, noting that high-profile resignations had prompted some change over the past year. “It still has a ways to go. The only way is to take it through the legal system.”
Her lawsuit does not name Mr. Parcell as one of her harassers, though she said he had been part of a work environment that had allowed harassment of women to occur. Mr. Parcell has denied all allegations. In his resignation letter last August, he said, “My resignation comes after a series of accusations against me that are categorically false.” An attorney for Mr. Parcell did not immediately respond to comment on the newest suit.
Ms. Sheth’s complaint accuses other men of wrongdoing. While working at the N.A.R. headquarters, Ms. Sheth spurned the sexual advances of Matthew Embrescia, the president of Second Generation, an investment firm and partner of the organization that operates many of N.A.R.’s internet domains, according to her lawsuit.
After Ms. Sheth refused and reported his advances to human resources, she was placed on a performance improvement plan — despite, the complaint reads, having received “a glowing performance review” just a few months before. The plan ended in September 2019. She took a one-month medical leave at its conclusion, and was immediately fired, the complaint reads, on the day she returned to work.
Mr. Embrescia, when reached by phone, said he had no comment on the allegations.
Her supervisor, the lawsuit says, was Ken Burlington, who was vice president of N.A.R. at the time. She said that Mr. Burlington had referred to women in the office using objectifying and derogatory language, including terms like “bitch.”
Mr. Burlington also promised Ms. Sheth a promotion in 2019, the complaint reads, and then denied it based on her “inability to collaborate effectively” with Mr. Embrescia.
Mr. Burlington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“The National Association of Realtors is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace,” said Mantill Williams, a spokesman for N.A.R., in response to the allegations. “We don’t comment on matters of employment.”
Ms. Sheth’s case is similar to those detailed in two other suits filed in recent years against N.A.R. and its subsidiaries. In 2020, Suzanne Mueller sued Move, a real estate listing company that operates Realtor.com. Ms. Mueller’s complaint details multiple incidents of sexual harassment and describes Move executives as minimizing inappropriate, sexually charged conversations at work events. Ms. Mueller, who had been the company’s senior vice president of industry relations, was laid off in May 2020. She also was offered a severance payment with a nondisclosure agreement.
In July 2023, Janelle Brevard, a Black woman, filed a suit against N.A.R. claiming sexual harassment and racial discrimination after she was fired for failing to disclose a relationship with Mr. Parcell. Ms. Brevard withdrew her lawsuit days after filing it, and she and her lawyer at the time reached an agreement with N.A.R. on a severance package of $107,000, which included lawyer fees. That package also came with a nondisclosure agreement.
In June 2019, Ms. Sheth met with Donna Gland, N.A.R.’s longtime head of human resources. During that meeting, the complaint reads, Ms. Gland repeatedly referred to Ms. Sheth, who was born in Chicago, as an immigrant. (Ms. Gland, who worked for N.A.R. for 38 years, resigned in November. Her exit, as well as that of Bob Goldberg, the organization’s chief executive, in 2023, came after the outcry set off by the Times investigation and other media reports. Ms. Gland did not immediately respond to a request for comment).
Ms. Sheth took a protected medical leave of absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act in September 2019. She returned to work on Oct. 2, 2019, and was informed that day that she had been fired. N.A.R. told her she had been fired for “poor performance,” she said, but she had received “glowing performance review” just months earlier.
According to the complaint, she struggled for months to secure a new job and was told by former co-workers that Mr. Burlington had told potential employers that she was “a liar” and “gave H.R. a hard time.” Another potential employer informed Ms. Sheth that N.A.R. officials had not responded to multiple attempts to verify her previous employment details.
In December 2019, Ms. Sheth was offered a settlement agreement, the complaint reads. She told The Times that the agreement included a severance payment and a nondisclosure agreement.
In February 2021, Ms. Sheth’s case was taken up by the Illinois Department of Human Rights. That same month, Ms. Sheth received text messages from an unknown number referring to her as a “rat” and telling her “kys,” which is text shorthand for “kill yourself.” She filed a police report.
Six months ago, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission informed Ms. Sheth of her right to sue.
The post Former Realtor Employee Files Sexual Harassment Suit Against Trade Group appeared first on New York Times.
