Elliman says it will cover abortion-related travel

Brokerage joins ranks of firms supporting employees in wake of landmark ruling

Douglas Elliman's Scott Durkin and Howard Lorber (Douglas Elliman, iStock)
Douglas Elliman's Scott Durkin and Howard Lorber (Douglas Elliman, iStock)

Almost immediately after Friday’s bombshell Supreme Court ruling effectively overturned the federally guaranteed right to an abortion established by Roe v. Wade, corporations across the country began rolling out measures to support potentially impacted employees.

That list now includes one of the nation’s largest residential brokerages.

“Dear Elliman Family,” began a note from Howard Lorber and Scott Durkin, Douglas Elliman’s chairman and CEO respectively, “Douglas Elliman stands firmly behind women and their reproductive rights.”

The note, sent out company-wide Friday afternoon and reviewed by The Real Deal, said Elliman would “expand out-of-state healthcare coverage for employees likely to be directly impacted by this morning’s Supreme Court ruling and will reimburse agents and staff who may be forced to travel out of state to obtain reproductive care.”

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Those impacted employees are likely to be concentrated in so-called red states: Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, the end result of a lower case in Mississippi, immediately struck down the federally protected abortion right established with Roe in 1973. Decisions on abortions now revert back to the states. Many Democratic-led states, such as California, have emphasized they will protect abortion rights, while Republican-led states are likely to heavily restrict or altogether ban the procedure: According to a New York Times tracker, eight states, including Wisconsin, Louisiana and Alabama, have already enacted all-out bans, while 13 more, including Texas, Florida and Arizona, are likely to soon pass new restrictions or bans.

The state bans mean that many women will end up traveling to undergo the procedure, leading corporations to issue their own healthcare expansions. Companies including Starbucks, Tesla, Airbnb and Netflix have already announced such measures.

Elliman has about 8,000 agents and employees across nine states, including Texas and Florida.