A former senior TikTok executive says she was fired after reporting sexual harassment and discrimination, including the parent company’s chairman telling women to “keep quiet,” according to a bombshell lawsuit.
Katie Puris filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, claiming she was forced to leave her job in September 2022, just three months after reporting sexual harassment at an industry dinner.
She joined TikTok in December 2019 as general manager and head of marketing in the US, but alleged a series of incidents in which she reported bias and sexual harassment to supervisors and human resources.
Puris claims she faced derogatory comments about her age and that ByteDance chairman Zhang Lidong believed women should be “humble at all times” and favored “docility and meekness” among female employees.
DailyMail.com has contacted TikTok and ByteDance for comment on the lawsuit filed against them.
Former senior TikTok executive Katie Puris is suing the social media company and its China-based parent company ByteDance over claims she was wrongfully fired after complaining about gender, age and disability discrimination
Puris claims she faced derogatory comments about her age and that ByteDance chairman Zhang Lidong (pictured) believed women should “remain quiet and humble at all times” and preferred “docility and meekness” in female employees
Puris joined TikTok in December 2019 as general manager and head of marketing in the US, but alleged a series of incidents in which she reported bias and sexual harassment to supervisors and human resources.
According to legal documentation, Puris was invited to ByteDance chairman Lidong’s biweekly meetings in 2020.
She claims she was given five to 10 minutes to share updates from her corporate marketing team.
“It became immediately apparent that Lidong Zhang was dissatisfied with the manner in which Ms. Puris conducted her presentations,” the lawsuit said.
“Because she celebrated her team’s successes and achievements, which he said was inappropriate because he believes women should always remain humble and express modesty. In essence, Lidong Zhang believes women should be quiet.”
Puris claimed that she asked for control over her document during a meeting, but that “Lidong found Zhang offensive because he believed that women had no right to even ask for such things.”
“Once again, Lidong Zhang’s stereotypical view of women, even in leadership roles, was that they should remain quiet and humble at all times,” the lawsuit said.
The former TikTok director claimed she was no longer allowed to present or speak in the meeting.
‘Mrs. Puris never heard Lidong Zhang criticize male leaders for not being modest enough,” the prosecutor added.
“Yet he criticized Ms. Puris to executives, erasing all the results and attributes she had brought to the company.”
She alleged she was sexually harassed at a dinner in June 2022 after attending a creative industry event in France. Puris met Christian Lee, the director of advertising agency Zenith Worldwide, during a dinner.
“During the dinner, Lee became increasingly intoxicated and sat next to Ms. Puris in such a manner that he prevented her from leaving him,” the lawsuit alleges.
“Lee slurred his words, spilled an entire glass of wine on Ms. Puris’ plate and began repeatedly touching Ms. Puris’ arm, asking her where they wanted to party after dinner and where they could go dancing.”
Puris filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court on Thursday, alleging she was forced out of her TikTok job in September 2022, just three months after she reported sexual harassment at an industry dinner.
It was claimed that Puris felt ‘incredibly uncomfortable with Lee’s behavior towards her’.
She said she reported the incident the next day to TikTok’s then global head of marketing, who reportedly said he would further raise the concerns with head of global HR Wendy Jimenez.
Puris added that she had contacted Jimenez about the lack of follow-up, writing that she was “disappointed that the ethics team did not take my concerns seriously.”
She wanted to know that “TikTok actually takes action when one of their employees experiences sexual harassment.”
In September 2022, Puris then emailed Jimenez again about concerns about the treatment of women at TikTok, age discrimination, the sexual harassment at Cannes Lion and the overall work environment.
She pointed to the fact that very few women were appointed to permanent leadership roles during the North American reorganization, TikTok’s handling of the Cannes Lion sexual harassment incident, and TikTok’s emphasis on hiring “young , new talent’.
But Puris claimed she was fired just days later for “performance reasons.”
Marjorie Mesidor and Monica Hincken, lawyers for Puris, said in a joint statement that she faced swift retaliation for complaining about discrimination despite being “tremendously successful” in her work.
“TikTok’s actions against Ms. Puris are illegal and we look forward to defending her rights,” they said.
According to her complaint, Puris previously worked at Alphabet’s Google, Meta’s Facebook and major advertising agencies.
The lawsuit accuses TikTok and ByteDance of violating U.S. and New York state and city laws prohibiting discrimination and retaliation in the workplace.
Puris is seeking an unspecified amount of money for economic losses, pain and suffering and damage to her reputation and career.
The lawsuit comes months after ByteDance was accused of racism and retaliation by black former employees who alleged the company fired them for speaking out against discrimination in a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
DailyMail.com has contacted Zenith Worldwide and Christian Lee for comment.