Regis Roumila sexual harassment lawsuit: Former Christie’s International Real Estate broker claims being fired after refusing to cheat on his wife with superior, Sarine Atamian.
A former NYC broker with Christie’s International Real Estate has filed a suit alleging his employment contract was terminated after the ‘happily’ married man refused to cheat on his wife with one of his superiors.
Regis Roumila, 46, has sued the ‘prestigious’ company and its business operations manager, Sarine Atamian, 29, who Roumila claims would sexually harass him and use her position of power at work to ‘put pressure on him.’
Roumila states in the discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuit that he reported Atamian to Kathleen Coumou, who is also named in the lawsuit, only for Coumou to allegedly do nothing according to the suit.
Matters devolved when on December 10- Roumila was fired – just four months after joining the outlet.
According to the filed lawsuit, Roumila alleges being ‘vaguely’ told that he was fired for ‘social interactions’ that were said to be out of line with with ‘Christie’s culture’. Which is to raise the awkward question, what exactly constitutes apropo Christie’s culture?
According to the suit, Roumila claims having to endure Atamian’s unwanted advances ‘from the first day,’ upon starting for the prestigious outlet.
Christie’s has a lot to answer for in connection with the way their organization is run and the way in which my client was treated and ultimately terminated,’ attorney Adam Michael Levy, who represents Roumila in the lawsuit, told via the nypost.
Roumila’s lawsuit states that Atamian would try to hug and kiss him, despite him telling her he was married and that he was not interested in that kind of attention from any other woman.
The woman is accused of continuously inviting Roumila out for dinner and drinks, getting unnecessarily close to him, finding excuses to touch him and staring at him at ‘all hours of the day.’
But there’s more….
Regis Roumila sexual harassment: Were one broker’s complaints ignored?
Atamian is said to have forced for Roumila to ‘pinky swear’ with her ‘just so she could touch [his] hand,’ and told Roumila ‘he should have a girlfriend’ in addition to his wife.
The lawsuit also states that Atamian would comment on Roumila’s appearance, specifically giving him unwanted compliments on his face, hair and clothing choices.
The lawsuit states Roumila reported Atamian’s alleged actions to Coumou, the executive director and broker of record at CIRE, who is said to have acknowledged Atamian’s actions were not appropriate.
Roumila alleges in the complaint that he was discriminated against ‘based on his gender, marital status, family status, sexual preference and other civilly protected classifications.’
The complaint also asserts CIRE penalized him for his failure to participate in ‘extramarital sexual behavior,’ and that the firm lacks an anti-sexual harassment policy.
Roumila also claims to be owed nearly $46,000 in commissions from CIRE, after procuring listings worth at least $49 million and closing sales totaling over $2.8 million in his short time at CIRE, according to The Real Deal, a New York real estate new site.
Roumila had previously worked at Nest Seekers for five years, where he was their number two agent in 2015.
He left Nest Seekers for Corcoran Group in 2016 the dailymail reports.
A representative for both CIRE and Atamian have said the lawsuit ‘is without merit and we will respond accordingly.’
