The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has had its fill of lawsuits.
The besieged trade association filed a motion to dismiss a discrimination lawsuit brought in June by former employee Roshani Sheth, who alleges that the trade group fired her in retaliation for filing internal complaints that allege discrimination from leadership.
In a memorandum filed in support of the motion to dismiss the four counts in the suit, NAR asserts that the charges are “legally insufficient” and “plainly deficient,” stating that Sheth’s charges are “lacking the necessary factual allegations that would give rise to the plausibility of her alleged claims.”
Sheth’s suit stems from her employment as a product manager at NAR, which began in May 2014. Sheth asserts that during her employment she was discriminated against on the basis of her sex and national origin, and that discrimination “included but were not limited to sexual harassment, unequal terms and conditions employment and failure to promote.”
Sheth says she filed the complaint in June 2019 and was terminated the following October. The two parties reached a settlement in December 2019 that included an agreement to keep the settlement confidential and for NAR to give a neutral reference on her employment status with NAR.
But Sheth alleges that NAR breached that agreement by refusing to even acknowledge she was ever employed at NAR, causing loss of income and employment opportunities. Subsequent to the agreement, Sheth says NAR then was “allowing or encouraging” employees to cyberstalk her with threatening text messages that said things like “kill yourself” or called her a “rat.”
NAR’s motion to dismiss states that Sheth didn’t exhaust her “administrative remedies” with regard to her complaint to the company in June 2019 and doesn’t provide a link to between her activity at NAR and her termination. NAR also says she fails to make the case that NAR breached the terms of their settlement agreement.
Sheth’s complaint is one in a long line of lawsuits filed against NAR that have threatened the long-term viability of the trade group, namely the $418 million settlement of a class-action antitrust lawsuit related to NAR’s rules around buyer agent compensation known as Sitzer-Burnett. NAR agreed to the settlement in March, though there are other suits still filtering through courts across the country.
But charges of discrimination and sexual harassment have also dogged the trade group. A suit filed in June 2023 by Janelle Brevard charged that NAR fired her shortly after breaking off a relationship with NAR president Kenny Parcell, in addition to racist and sexual discrimination. That suit has since been dismissed.
An August 2023 story in The New York Times highlighted allegations from 16 current and former employees of sexual harassment against Parcell, who resigned just two days after the story was published. The 29 women the Times interviewed described a “culture of fear,” in addition to intimidation and harassment. His replacement, Tracy Kasper, resigned as president after reporting that someone had attempted to blackmail her unless she compromised her position at NAR.
NAR did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication. HousingWire was unable to reach Sheth.
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