New York:
A former senior marketing executive at TikTok sued the social media company and its Chinese parent ByteDance on Thursday, claiming she was forced to resign after complaining about gender, age and disability discrimination.
Katie Puris said in a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court that her firing in 2022 was the result of a series of incidents in which she reported bias to supervisors and human resources, including one in which she Reported sexual harassment.
Preece, who was nearly 50 when she was fired, claimed she was subjected to derogatory comments about her age and that ByteDance chairman Zhang Lidong believed women “should always remain quiet and modest” and preferred female employees to be “docile and gentle” docile”.
She also claimed that TikTok refused to grant her time off to address medical issues she developed due to the stress of the job.
TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Price’s attorneys, Marjorie Mesidor and Monica Hincken, said in a joint statement that despite her “tremendous success” in her job, she was discrimination and prompt retaliation.
“TikTok’s actions against Ms. Preece are unlawful and we look forward to defending her rights,” they said.
Preece previously worked at Alphabet’s Google, Meta’s Facebook and major advertising companies, according to her complaint.
The lawsuit accuses TikTok and ByteDance of violating U.S. and New York state and city laws prohibiting workplace discrimination and retaliation. Preece is seeking damages including financial loss, pain and suffering, and damage to his reputation and career.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)