Former TikTok executive Katie Puris has filed a lawsuit against the social media platform, alleging gender and age discrimination, as well as retaliation and wrongful termination. Puris, who served as the Global Head of Brand & Creative at TikTok, claims that she was fired in 2022 after making internal complaints about gender and age discrimination within the company. She also reported an incident of sexual harassment at a TikTok event, which she says was not appropriately addressed by the company.

In the lawsuit filed in a Manhattan federal court, Puris's attorneys argue that she was given positive performance reviews after joining TikTok in late 2019 and was even invited to participate in meetings with ByteDance's chairman Lidong Zhang. However, the lawsuit claims that Zhang was displeased with Puris's presentations because she celebrated her team's successes, which he believed was inappropriate for a woman. The complaint further alleges that the company began micromanaging Puris's team and recommending the cancellation of their projects.

The lawsuit also states that during a leadership meeting in 2021, Yiming Zhang, ByteDance's CEO at the time, expressed a preference for hiring young, inexperienced individuals, stating that older people are "less willing to change, less innovative, and slower." Puris, who was nearing 50 at the time, expressed her concerns about this discriminatory statement to the head of global human resources at TikTok.

According to the complaint, TikTok attributed Puris's firing to "performance reasons." However, Puris's attorneys argue that this was a pretext to cover up the discrimination and retaliation she faced for raising concerns about the alleged mistreatment. TikTok and its parent company ByteDance in Beijing, both listed as defendants, have not yet responded to the lawsuit.

This is not the first time TikTok has faced allegations of discrimination. In September, two Black former US ByteDance employees filed a complaint with the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, accusing the company of racial discrimination and retaliation against Black workers. TikTok has previously stated that it has policies in place to prohibit discrimination, harassment, and retaliation in the workplace.

Puris, who had a successful career in marketing and advertising, including at Facebook and Google, had her work recognized in AdWeek's list of "13 Campaigns That Made Ad Pros Jealous in 2021." However, the lawsuit claims that she faced disparate treatment at TikTok due to her gender, with senior leaders expecting her to exhibit docility and meekness, qualities they believed were required of female employees.

Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges that senior leaders openly expressed a preference for hiring young, less experienced employees whom they deemed to be more innovative and pliable. Puris claims that a manager implied that the company did not want as many high-level employees, which she understood to reference her age.

In early 2022, Puris raised concerns with human resources about her team's excessive workload and its impact on their mental health and well-being. She noted that several team members had taken or were currently on medical leave due to the severe stress and pressure of the work. However, Puris alleges that she faced retaliation for speaking up, including receiving poor performance reviews and having her team size reduced. She also claims that managers pressured her to give unjustifiably low performance ratings to certain employees to justify their terminations.

Puris filed a charge of discrimination and retaliation with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in May 2023 before proceeding with the lawsuit. The outcome of this case will shed light on the workplace culture at TikTok and potentially have broader implications for the tech industry as a whole.