Former Brown Harris Stevens Agent Wins Nearly $800,000 in Discrimination Lawsuit Against the Firm

A federal court awarded a former Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons real estate agent nearly $800,000 this month after finding that the firm fired her in retaliation for reporting discrimination on the basis of race.

U.S. District Judge Nina R. Morrison wrote in her June 7 decision that “Shauncy Claud’s emerging career in the Hamptons real estate industry came to a sudden and unexpected halt” on June 30, 2017, just eight months after the Southampton native became the firm’s only Black agent.

Morrison credited Claud with having the “ambition, interpersonal skills, and local contacts that were well suited to her chosen career.” The judge wrote that Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons, in a curt email, fired Claud after a client’s daughter complained to the firm’s senior executive about Claud’s alleged rudeness, and that, despite having an unblemished record, Claud was never asked to provide her version of events.

According to the judge’s written decision, Claud sued Brown Harris Stevens of the Hamptons in March 2018, asserting that she was discriminated against based on her race and that she was fired in retaliation for a complaint she made to the firm’s senior executive manager about a pattern of racial discrimination by her direct supervisor. She was fired two weeks after meeting with the senior executive.

Morris heard the case during a three-day bench trial — a trial with no jury — that started on February 8 and found that Claud “readily met her burden of proving” that her termination was retaliatory. Further, she found that the firm’s given reason for firing Claud was “wholly pretextual.”

Claud had testified that her supervisor subjected her to inappropriate comments that directly or indirectly referenced her race and to disparate supervisory treatment compared to her white colleagues, including dismissive remarks, refusal to offer mentorship and reduced opportunities for Claud to build her portfolio. In one exchange, according to her testimony, when Claud inquired with her supervisor about updating year-old rental listings — standard procedure that would give her the opportunity to earn commissions — her supervisor called her a “pit bill” who likes “to take things from others.”

The alleged lack of mentorship and support also included the supervisor not joining Claud on meetings with prospective clients and not aiding Claud with pricing homes correctly using “comps,” or comparable properties and sales. When Claud emailed a senior agent for help on comps, the agent wrote back that it was “outrageous” that the supervisor was not offering that help. “[H]e should be offering you way more assistance,” the senior agent wrote. “He does to other agents.”

According to Morrison’s 61-page ruling, the complaint of rudeness on Claud’s part stemmed from a June 29, 2017, conversation that Claud had with the daughter of one of her clients. The client had previously told Claud not to discuss the sale of the property with anyone — including the client’s own family. When Claud had trouble reaching the client but got through to the client’s daughter, the daughter asked a number of questions that Claud explained she could not answer, and the daughter told Claud to take the listing off the market, which Claud said she could not do without her client’s permission. The daughter yelled and cursed at Claud during the phone call, until Claud hung up.

The daughter complained to the boss of Claud’s supervisor — the same boss who Claud had spoken to two weeks prior about her supervisor. Claud soon learned from a companywide email that she was fired; that email was sent out four minutes after the boss sent her a personal message informing her she no longer had a job there.

Claud joined another real estate company but struggled to keep or get new clients due to her short tenure at Brown Harris Stevens. A psychotherapist later diagnosed Claud with post-traumatic stress disorder related to her firing, for which she was given no explanation from Brown Harris Stevens other than the firm was “not the right fit” for her.

Claud said on Monday that it was only after she retained counsel that she learned that her client’s daughter had allegedly complained about her. She called it a “false, made-up reason” for her termination.

The judge awarded Claud $200,000 in punitive damages and $587,897 in compensatory damages. The compensatory damages included $263,516 in back pay, $300,000 for emotional distress and $24,381 in prejudgment interest.

“I’m really happy with the outcome,” Claud said. “They treated me very badly and unfairly. So it’s really nice to see this accountability, and I hope I can encourage other minorities or people of color to speak up.”

Claud, who is now living in Atlanta and pursuing a legal studies degree there, said she is “beyond satisfied” with the judge’s decision. “I really applaud her for such great work that she did,” she said of the judge. “She clearly saw I was singled out. … She saw it for what it was.”

Brown Harris Stevens intends to appeal the decision.

“Brown Harris Stevens has always championed nondiscrimination in all settings and was disappointed in the current ruling, particularly since a prior decision in the case had dismissed any discrimination claims,” a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement on Monday. “Brown Harris Stevens will proceed to file a notice of appeal.”