A former TikTok manager is suing the video hosting service, alleging she was wrongfully fired in the spring for taking time off to deal with two family deaths as well as her own pregnancy.
Mikayla Mowzoon’s Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit allegations include sex and gender discrimination, whistleblower and general retaliation, wrongful termination and failure to prevent discrimination and retaliation. Mowzoon seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
A TikTok representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment on the suit brought Friday.
Mowzoon, 31, was hired in January 2021 as a product policy manager and her duties included managing internal policies, community guidelines, live-stream and text.
Mowzoon was granted a leave in July 2022 after her sister-in-law, 7 1/2 months into a pregnancy, was killed along with the unborn child in an accident, according to the suit, which also states that the plaintiff’s boss told her not to contact any members of Mowzoon’s team during that time about work-related issues.
Mowzoon was subsequently transferred to different positions in 2022-23 and one of the assignments had her reporting to a supervisor who had been doing work that called for the same skills she had, according to the suit, which further states that a male colleague told her he was making 60% more money than she was and had also been hired into a more senior level.
After Mowzoon complained to human resources about the alleged pay disparity, she was told the issue would be investigated, but by April 2023 she was given a poor performance review, the suit alleges.
Mowzoon’s boss at the time said her evaluation was poor because she was not available when her sister-in-law and the plaintiff’s unborn niece were killed, even though the plaintiff’s previous supervisor had approved the time off, the suit states.
When Mowzoon complained about her lackluster job review, she was told, “Sorry, that’s just the review you received,” according to the suit.
Last August, Mowzoon was well into a pregnancy of her own and informed management that she would need to begin a leave two months later, according to the suit, which further states that the same month she began her time off she was given a second poor job evaluation.
When Mowzoon returned to work in March, she was assigned to yet another supervisor, given a third poor performance rating while she was off pregnant and given 30 days to complete projects showing her performance was improved, the suit states.
In April, three weeks into Mowzoon’s performance improvement plan, two managers told her in a meeting, “Based on where you are in life and the needs of the team, this isn’t going to work,” then terminated the plaintiff, the suit states.
“Plaintiff was left embarrassed, ashamed, emotionally broken and in financial desperation for having been directly discriminated and retaliated against for her sex and gender and blowing the whistle on defendant’s unlawful pay practices, despite three years of outstanding and loyal service…” the suit states.