Hamptons Broker Sues Bespoke, Alleges Pregnancy Discrimination

A luxury residential broker in the Hamptons is accusing her former employers of pregnancy and sex discrimination.

Ashley McDermott accused her former employers — Bespoke, Parallel, and Cody Vichinsky — of pregnancy and sex discrimination in a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of Suffolk.

McDermott, who worked for Bespoke from 2018 to 2025 before joining the Terry Cohen team at Compass, claims that the company sidelined and demoted her weeks after telling management she was pregnant in April last year.

The complaint details McDermott’s claims against Bespoke, Parallel — a separate entity created in 2023 to handle deals with sales prices under $10 million — and Vichinsky, the founding partner and president of both companies, of discrimination on the bases of pregnancy and sex in violation of the New York State Human Rights Law.

She is seeking an unspecified amount in back pay, front pay, interest on lost wages and commissions, and compensatory damages.

In a statement, the firms and Vichinsky said they “categorically deny the allegations and any suggestion that they reflect the company’s treatment of its employees.”

“We remain confident that the facts will ultimately speak for themselves and will address this matter through the legal process rather than through the media,” the statement added.

The plaintiff was promoted to Bespoke’s “Corporate Team” in January 2024, where she worked on high-profile deals. In 2024, she claims in the filing, she earned $157,000, with more than $82,000 coming from commissions.

McDermott became pregnant in December 2024 and disclosed it to Vichinsky on April 9, 2025. In the same conversation, McDermott alleges, Vichinsky said that she wouldn’t be able to continue to work on the “Corporate Team” and that “you’re not going to want to be working as hard when you have a baby.”

Shortly after, according to the complaint, McDermott was replaced on the “Corporate Team” by Devrim Kucuk, “a male employee … who was not pregnant.”

McDermott was offered a new job with Bespoke’s property management office, which meant a $10,000 salary cut and no opportunity to earn commissions. Bespoke Vice President of Finance Kaitlyn Magro went through McDermott’s laptop and cellphone on May 19, 2025, and deleted all client contacts and correspondence, she claims in the lawsuit, embarrassing and humiliating the broker.

McDermott declined and informed Bespoke in late May that she would leave the company, according to the complaint. In early June, she accepted the offer to join Terry Cohen, who was transferring from Hedgerow to Compass.

A spokesperson for the brokerage cited “legitimate business considerations unrelated to pregnancy” for the employment change McDermott described in the complaint, adding that in the same period, “multiple employees and supervisors were themselves pregnant, and continued to work and advance professionally during and after pregnancy.”

Vichinsky, who founded Bespoke in 2014 with his brother Zach Vichinsky, was the highest-selling Hamptons broker in The Real Deal’s ranking of the market’s residential agents in 2025. He claimed 30 deals for a total of more than $443 million in sales volume to cap off his third year in the top spot.

Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C., attorneys for McDermott, declined to comment.