EEOC sues N.J. firm for sex discrimination

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a federal lawsuit against a New Jersey real estate investment and management company for allegedly firing three women after learning they had become pregnant.

“It’s bad for society when an employer deprives hardworking women and their families of their livelihood because of pregnancy,” said EEOC District Director Kevin Berry in a release announcing the suit. “The EEOC is here to defend the rights of pregnant workers.”

The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for New Jersey alleges claims for Civil Rights Act violations against Friedman Realty Group Inc., which owns and manages apartment communities, retail shopping centers and office buildings, including 11 apartment properties in Prospect Park, Morton and Tinicum.

The suit says Brianna Mazzella received consistent praise and performance-based salary increases during her tenure as a leasing agent for Friedman at its Prospect Park offices between November 2012 and August 2013.

But that changed after Mazzella told a regional property manager that she was pregnant in midMarch 2013, according to the suit. The manager allegedly told Mazzella that “pregnancy makes you retarded” and “when women get pregnant they get stupid,” according to the complaint. Mazzella was also assigned more “onerous tasks” that she had not previously been assigned after her disclosure, the suit says, and was subjected to heightened scrutiny and discipline.

The manager, who no longer works for the company, also allegedly told Mazzella’s immediate supervisor that the company had to “get rid of” her in mid-June 2013, according to the complaint. The EEOC claims Mazzella was fired in August 2013 because of her pregnancy.

Two other women are also alleged to have been fired because of their pregnancies.

Alison Robovitsky had worked as a cleaner at Friedman’s Prospect Park location for nearly three years when she told the same manager she was pregnant in early April 2013, according to the complaint.

Robovitsky, who performed her work without incident and had received consistent praise, was written up for poor performance after her disclosure and fired three days later, the suit says.

The EEOC says Nicole Milano, a leasing consultant at Friedman’s Somers Point, N.J., facility from July 2015 through April 2017, was likewise fired three months after disclosing her own pregnancy. Milano had also received consistent praise and performed her work without incident prior to her termination, according to the suit.

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