A former CBRE executive in Atlanta is suing his former employer over age discrimination and allegations that the commercial real estate brokerage giant billed his time to multiple clients while working exclusively with one firm.

Christopher Gadrix sued CBRE, claiming that the firm terminated his role as a director of transaction management after he expressed “good-faith concerns” that he was assigned to too many third-party clients while his main client, energy technology firm Baker Hughes, was fully reimbursing Gadrix’s salary and benefits to work on its behalf, according to the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Sept. 4. 

Gadrix also alleges that CBRE “made false and damaging statements” about him to the Georgia Department of Labor and prospective commercial real estate employers, which “severely damaged” Gadrix’s “professional reputation and ability to obtain comparable employment,” according to his attorneys in the lawsuit, Wimberly Lawson Steckel Schneider & Stine PC Senior Principal Larry Stine and principal Elizabeth Dorminey.

Gadrix filed an age discrimination and retaliation claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which issued a right-to-sue ruling in June, according to the lawsuit. He also filed a whistleblower complaint under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, alleging that concerns he raised about CBRE’s client billing on his behalf “could involve fraud, mail or wire fraud, SEC-rule issues, or fraud against shareholders.”

“To protect the integrity of the case, I can’t really comment at this time,” Gadrix told Bisnow when reached by phone on Thursday. 

A message to his attorney was not returned as of press time. Messages seeking comment from Baker Hughes and other Gadrix clients listed in the lawsuit — Atlanta-based shipping giant UPS and Avery Dennison — also were not returned as of press time.

"We believe the plaintiff’s claims are without merit and will contest them vigorously in the proper legal forum,” a CBRE spokesperson said via email to Bisnow. 

According to the lawsuit, CBRE assigned Gadrix the Baker Hughes account in 2019, which reimbursed him 100% for his base salary, bonus compensation and benefits. By 2021, though, CBRE gave Gadrix additional work with Avery Dennison. He was then named the firm’s interim real estate director between September and December 2023 at Avery Dennison's request, while Baker Hughes continued to pay CBRE for Gadrix.

Then in August 2025, CBRE promoted Gadrix and assigned him the UPS account, a role that required he work at the shipping giant’s Atlanta headquarters four days a week while concealing that fact from both Baker Hughes and Avery Dennison, according to the lawsuit. By November of that year, Gadrix alleges to have raised concerns about his numerous roles with CBRE Executive Vice President Lisa Harber at the Atlanta office. 

“Harber’s reaction to [Gadrix’s] concerns was hostile. [Gadrix] perceived that his inquiry was treated as a threat rather than a legitimate compliance concern,” his attorneys said in the lawsuit. 

Seven weeks after that meeting, Gadrix claims that he was summoned to a meeting with Harber, Vice Chairman Glenn Dyke and a human resources executive named Brittany Barnes, who allegedly told Gadrix that his role was being eliminated due to a restructuring and “nothing to do at all with his work performance.”

Gadrix declined to sign a severance agreement following his separation in February of this year, according to the lawsuit. He started at CBRE in 1997.

“Upon information and belief, Plaintiff was the only employee among approximately 50 individuals on his team whose position was eliminated as part of the purported restructuring,” his attorneys said in the suit. 

Gadrix, who is over 40, alleges that CBRE told the state’s Department of Labor that the reason for his separation was due to a client request, an allegation that Gadrix said is false.

“[Gadrix] personally confirmed with representatives of Baker Hughes, UPS and Avery Dennison that none of those clients requested his removal from their accounts,” according to the suit. 

His attorneys also claim that CBRE “has given shifting and inconsistent explanations” for his termination, including restructuring, eliminating his position, by request from a client, and that a client pivoted to a digital solution. CBRE also is alleged to have claimed that Gadrix was unhappy at the firm and wanted to pursue other opportunities, all in conflict with what CBRE reported to the Department of Labor, according to the lawsuit. 

According to the lawsuit, Gadrix’s role was replaced by an unnamed CBRE employee in their 30s. Gadrix alleges he applied to other roles within the firm but was passed over for others “substantially younger” than himself, according to the lawsuit. 

Gadrix alleges that CBRE made false claims about reasons for his separation to prevent him from finding other employment “in retaliation for his protected activity and/or because of his age.”

CBRE “made false and damaging statements about Plaintiff to prospective employers in the commercial real-estate industry and have otherwise ‘blackballed’ [Gadrix], including by disseminating or permitting the dissemination of the false ‘Client Request’ explanation for his separation,” attorneys said in the lawsuit. “These statements and communications have severely damaged Plaintiff’s professional reputation and have prevented him from obtaining comparable employment despite his 28 years of experience and strong performance record."