WESTLAND, Mich. – A Westland leasing agent and her fiancé have filed a lawsuit alleging pregnancy and race discrimination, retaliation, and illegal eavesdropping after a management change at the Waynewood Apartments, according to the lawsuit.
“It was terrible,” said Amanda Stamper, 34. “It was just me trying to survive and trying to kind of block the most stressful parts out to protect my baby.”
“The fact that in modern day this would happen… it shocks the conscience,” said her attorney, Todd Perkins. “It makes you mad as hell.”
Stamper and her fiancé, Lamar Lyons, 40, are suing M. Shapiro Management Group LLC, M. Shapiro Development Company LLC, and M. Shapiro Real Estate Group, along with several managers and superiors, alleging pregnancy and race discrimination, retaliation, and illegal eavesdropping.
The other defendants include Emily Rathnaw, Jared Gorback, Erica Spencer, Rubin Chrisman, Mark Kassab, and Mia Reikensmeyer.
The complaint filed June 22, 2026, lists 10 counts, including discrimination and retaliation; violation of the Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act; violation of the federal Wiretap Act and Michigan’s eavesdropping act; invasion of privacy; FMLA interference and retaliation; violation of the PUMP Act; violation of the Whistleblower Protection Act; third-party retaliation claims as to Lyons; civil conspiracy; and a civil RICO violation.
What the lawsuit alleges
Stamper said she began working as a leasing agent for Waynewood Apartments in Westland in June 2024, and Lyons was hired as a janitor in September 2024. Both allegedly received positive reviews and “exceeded expectations.”
The suit said M. Shapiro began managing Westland and other residential community properties, including one in Livonia, in January 2025, and that Stamper continued under “the same corporate structure, management, and chain of command.”
Stamper said she told supervisors she was pregnant in February 2025. Not long after, however, she told Local 4 she began experiencing an overwhelmingly hostile work environment.
Rathnaw allegedly immediately asked her: “Why she wanted another baby when she already had eight children?”
The complaint said she later provided medical restrictions tied to a high-risk pregnancy but alleged they were ignored.
Stamper, who later had to wear a heart monitor, said her PTO was reduced, she only received the minimum 1% raise, and when she raised concerns, a supervisor told her he would replace her if she could not perform.
The lawsuit alleges that attempts to go through HR were blocked or redirected through management, and that one supervisor told her, “Let’s not forget that I hired your fiancé for you.”
In July 2025, the company allegedly brought in a new leasing agent who Stamper said told her she was only hired “to chase Stamper off.”
“One of those employees who disclosed to her (that ‘I’m here to replace you’), they fired her,” Perkins told Local 4.
Stamper said she was hospitalized again in September 2025 and said she was told to return to work.
During a Teams meeting, she was allegedly told doctor appointments were an “inconvenience” and that she was “stealing time.”
Stamper said she later went into labor-related distress and returned to the hospital. She was then approved for maternity leave beginning Sept. 17, 2025.
Stamper’s return to work
When Stamper returned early in November 2025, she was allegedly told her office and duties had been given to another employee.
The complaint also includes detailed allegations tied to lactation accommodations. In one instance, Stamper alleges Rathnaw handed her a note from another supervisor instructing her that “if you need to pump throughout the day, you can either take a 30-minute lunch and two 15-minute break periods, or a one-hour lunch and no break periods.”
Stamper was also allegedly told to use the cafeteria or kitchen areas to pump milk for her baby when at Westland.
According to the lawsuit, the kitchen was in the middle of the Westland office and was frequented by employees, vendors, contractors, and others throughout the day.
A portion of the kitchen had been fitted with “porous bifold doors” with openings, so “anyone outside the makeshift screen could see Stamper pumping milk.”
Stamper said she could not comfortably pump milk in front of an audience. Stamper said she went home to pump milk during her one-hour lunch break.
On Nov. 26, 2025, Stamper began working three days a week at Livonia and two days a week at Westland, the suit said.
Later, with no other options, Stamper said she pumped milk for her baby in a parking lot, with the car windows covered, during her break.
Alleged hidden microphone found
Things escalated further in early 2026 when Stamper said she discovered what appeared to be a hidden microphone near her desk.
The lawsuit said Stamper’s discovery was all caught on surveillance video and that she was “horrified.”
On Feb. 5, 2026, Stamper said she heard “a strange sound” in her office that sounded like “static.”
Stamper said she searched for the source of the sound and found a microphone “embedded in the floorboard plaster” on the side of her desk.
“My heart dropped,” Stamper said. “I immediately was scared. I felt like, you know, what more are they doing in here to me other than recording my conversations?”
The microphone, according to the suit, had been planted in her private office area and installed without her knowledge by an IT technician.
Erika Erickson: “How long did you keep quiet?”
Amanda Stamper: “All the way until they walked into my office on April 20 and tried to fire me for finding it.”
Erika Erickson: “How did they know you found it?”
Amanda Stamper: “From watching me on the cameras in my office.”
After Stamper reported the issue, management allegedly said she had consented under policy, a claim the lawsuit disputes.
“This type of mistreatment of human beings should just not be allowed,” Perkins said. “These are violations that extend and are so broad we can’t even comprehend right now.”
A confrontation allegedly followed, including accusations that Stamper had tampered with surveillance equipment, which she denies.
In another allegation, Lyons was accused of stealing a refrigerator after being told to dispose of it, which he denies, according to the complaint.
Stamper said she later filed a police report and an EEOC complaint.
Local 4 reached out to M. Shapiro Real Estate Group and was told “no comment” before someone quickly hung up.
Calls and emails to an attorney representing the management and real estate groups were not returned immediately.
Stamper and Lyons are still employed by the company.
“It’s a hard situation; you don’t know what they’re going to do next, so it’s basically going into work, looking over our shoulders every day. I walk through my office, turn on all the lights, check the closets, just to make sure no one is in there,” Stamper said. “I just kind of pray on it, hope that no one is hiding in my office, hope that they’re not trying to send anyone to scare me off. It’s a scary situation.”
“You want to protect this person, and whoever’s been subjected to it,” Perkins said. “Think about the other people who unwittingly were exposed to this type of bad behavior; they should step forward, too.”