TikTok’s former global marketing head Katie Puris has accused the company of unlawfully firing her because some company executives, including the chair of its Chinese parent company ByteDance, believed she “lacked the docility and meekness specifically required of female employees”.
In a complaint filed on Thursday in federal court in Manhattan, Puris, who joined TikTok in late 2019, said she was “extraordinarily successful” during her employment at the short-form video company, but that she suffered discriminatory treatment due to her age and gender. She was ultimately fired in 2023, according to the filing.
In particular, she claimed that ByteDance chair Lidong Zhang “had a stereotypical view of the way women should behave”, and that Puris “did not fit that stereotypical gender” mould as an experienced hire who advocated for her team’s successes.