A marketing executive who used to work for TikTok is suing because her boss fired her for not having “the docility and meekness specifically required of female employees.”
Katie Rissio Puris was fired from her job as TikTok’s head of global brand and creative last year. She used to work as a marketer for the app. Because of this, she sued for prejudice in Manhattan’s court on Thursday. She said the company criticized her in ways that her male coworkers didn’t, and they also didn’t handle a sexual attack claim properly, which she said was unfair.
In the lawsuit, it said, “At every step, Ms. Puris reported the sexual harassment and discrimination she faced to her managers, Human Resources, and Employee Relations, but the Company, following orders from its office in China, did nothing to fix the problem.”
For her part, Zhang fired her because he was “unhappy with the way she led her presentations.” He said she “celebrated her team’s successes and achievements, which he thought was inappropriate because he believes women should always be humble and show modesty.”
“Basically, Lidong Zhang thinks women should be quiet,” the claim said.
Puris complained a lot about things going on at work, like how she wasn’t allowed to speak at meetings every two months but her male coworkers were. She also said that the company had a “996” rule that said workers had to be at work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week.
In her case, Puris said that constantly trying to prove herself caused her to have health problems like ulcers, IBS, and migraines. In her speech, Puris also talked about a case of sexual attack she brought up with her bosses but got no attention for. Puris said that she was fired because she told the boss that the company wasn’t taking her sexual attack case seriously.
