Brown Harris Stevens of Hampton seeks to overturn nearly $1 million award to Shauncy Claud after court finds company erred in filing discrimination complaint Fired her.
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Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons is asking the High Court to overturn a nearly $1 million award against a real estate agent after a federal court found the prominent real estate agent guilty of alleging discrimination. She was wrongly fired for complaining.
On March 11, BHSH submitted a Notice of Appeal A lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit challenging the ruling of Judge Nina R. Morrison of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
Morrison’s Ruling on February 28 BHSH paid attorney Shauncy Claud $801,113.14 after finding she was entitled to compensatory and punitive damages because BHSH violated anti-discrimination laws when the company retaliated against her for complaining about racial discrimination by a supervisor.
Chauncy Claude
Claud, who joined the six-office agency in November 2016, is the only Black agent associated with BHSH.She submitted an application complain In March 2018, she claimed she was fired in June 2017 in retaliation for a complaint she made to the company two weeks before she was fired.
In June, Morrison awarded Crowder $787,896.68, which included compensatory damages for back wages and emotional distress and $200,000 in punitive damages. With interest, the damages were $801,113.14. In his ruling, Morrison acknowledged that, as an independent contractor, Crowder could have been fired for any non-discriminatory reason, but found that “the reasons for Crowder’s termination provided by BHSH were entirely pretextual” attempts to conceal retaliation for protected activity. : Complaints about supervisor’s racial discrimination.
In addition, on January 23, Morrison Grant Crowder’s attorney fees were $170,065 and expenses were $6,067.69, for a total of $176,132.69. BHSH appeals The order was issued on February 23. If the appeal is unsuccessful, plus damages, BHSH will have to pay more than $977,245.83 (nearly $1 million).
Claude’s experience is remarkable in part because of the location where it occurred. In 2019, Long Island newspaper Newsday released a groundbreaking, three-year investigation that revealed widespread bias among agents in the region against consumers of color. Brown Harris Stevens was not one of the 12 brokerage firms included in the study.
In June, Crowder told Inman she wanted to see “more diversity in these real estate brokerages and at all levels, not just brokers but management, executive and beyond,” and believed brokerages Greater representation of ethnic minorities in the economy will result in less discrimination against consumers.
Inman has reached out to Claud and BHSH parent company Brown Harris Stevens for comment and will update this story when we hear back.
Send an email to Andrea V. Brambila.
