Ex-TikTok exec says China-based boss fired her because ‘he believed women should be quiet’: lawsuit
NY Post
A former marketing executive for TikTok is alleging that she was fired because she failed to demonstrate “the docility and meekness specifically required of female employees.”
Katie Riccio Puris, who was let go last year from her role as TikTok’s head of global brand and creative, filed a discrimination suit against the ByteDance-owned social media platform in Manhattan federal court on Thursday.
Puris, a Long Island resident, alleged that the company subjected her to criticism that her male colleagues were spared from and that it failed to properly address a sexual harassment allegation.
“At every step, Ms. Puris reported the discriminatory treatment and sexual harassment she faced — to her managers, Human Resources and Employee Relations — and the Company, taking its directives from the office in China, failed to take any corrective action,” it was alleged in the complaint.
Puris, whose resume includes stints as a marketing executive at Google and Meta-owned Facebook, was hired by TikTok in 2019 to head its North American business marketing division.
Despite receiving glowing performance reviews from her superiors after joining TikTok, things began to change after Lidong Zhang, the chairman of Chinese-based parent company ByteDance, began to assert more control over the social media platform’s day-to-day operations, the lawsuit alleged.
