A former regional operations manager at CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM) is suing the company over allegations of age discrimination and wrongful termination for her refusal to participate in illegal activities.
Penny Smith, 61, filed the lawsuit in early September in a district court in Pennsylvania. She alleges violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the state’s Human Relations Act and common law.
A spokesperson for CCM said the company “does not comment on legal matters.” Smith and her attorney haven’t responded to HousingWire‘s requests for comment.
Smith was an employee at the California-based retail lender LendUS, which she joined in November 2018. She transitioned to Ohio-based CCM when it acquired the firm in 2022.
According to her, between January 2022 and September 2022, the lender “systemically laid off older female employees.” Starting in about November 2022, her supervisor, William Litton, began making “openly discriminatory remarks about her age.” Litton did not respond to a request for comment.
Smith said she was told she needed to have a good appearance and look younger, otherwise she would be “obsolete.” She also claims that, in an effort to make her quit, her supervisor cut her bonus and excluded her from meetings, among other allegations.
According to the lawsuit, Smith’s supervisor also directed her to commit mortgage fraud by altering documents and hiding or changing borrower information to make them qualify for home loans, which she said she constantly refused to do.
Smith alleges she was provided with fraudulent sales agreements and documents in which appraisal gaps had been removed.
For example, Smith claims her supervisor demanded in May 2023 that she remove a $1.5 million business loan from an application by hiding bank statements and other documents showing the debt. On another occasion, in July 2023, she claims her supervisor instructed her to “hide” alimony/child support information on a loan application.
Ultimately, in August 2023, she was laid off for “lack of volume,” according to her allegations.
Smith demands compensation for past lost earnings, liquidated or punitive damages, emotional distress, and the expenses of the lawsuit, among other things. She requests a trial by jury.
CCM was the 10th-largest U.S. mortgage lender in the first half of the year, with $15.4 billion in production, 2.1% higher than the same period in 2023, according to Inside Mortgage Finance. Per the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System, the company had 4,204 sponsored loan officers and 710 branches as of Monday.