Perception Companions sued by former vp Kate Lowry

Kate Lowry, a former vp at Perception Companions, is suing the agency, alleging incapacity discrimination, gender discrimination, and wrongful termination, in keeping with a go well with filed on December 30 in San Mateo County, California, and seen by TechCrunch.  
 
Perception Companions didn’t instantly reply to TechCrunch’s request for remark. 

Lowry instructed TechCrunch she filed the go well with as a result of she believes “too many highly effective, rich individuals in enterprise act prefer it’s OK to interrupt the regulation and systemically underpay and abuse their workers.”

“It’s an oppressive system that mirror[s] broader developments in society that use worry, intimidation, and energy to silence and isolate fact. I’m making an attempt to vary that.”

Lowry started working at Perception Companions in 2022, after beforehand working for Meta, McKinsey & Firm, and an early-stage startup. The go well with alleges that, upon being employed, she was assigned to a special supervisor than the individual talked about throughout her interview.  

She alleges within the go well with that she was instructed by her new supervisor, who was a lady, to be “on-line on a regular basis, together with PTO, holidays, and weekends,” and to reply between “6 a.m. and 11 p.m. day by day.”  

Lowry says within the go well with that this first supervisor “berated, hazed, and antagonized” her, spoke brazenly about a hazing that could be “longer and extra intense” than what she put different male stories by way of.  

Some feedback the supervisor allegedly made, in keeping with the go well with, embody “you might be incompetent, shut up and take notes” and “it’s essential obey me like a canine; do no matter I say every time I say it, with out talking.”  Lowry additionally alleges that her supervisor assigned her “redundant duties” and restricted her means to take part in calls, whereas permitting much less skilled male colleagues to take action. Lowry, as a substitute, she alleges, was relegated to “administrative duties equivalent to note-taking and cataloging.”  

Lowry stated she grew to become “more and more unwell” due to the work setting and that her doctor suggested a medical go away of absence, which she was granted and took from February to July 2023.  

When she returned to work, she was positioned on a brand new staff and, the go well with alleges, was instructed by the pinnacle of human sources that “if the brand new staff didn’t like her, she could be fired.”  

In September 2023, Lowry stated she received a concussion and took one other medical go away and returned to work close to the top of 2024. As a result of some departures, she was positioned below the supervision of a brand new individual, the place Lowry stated her poor remedy continued. She additionally alleges that in 2024, her compensation was about 30% beneath the market. 

By April 2025, she alleges she was instructed her compensation could be minimize. In Might of 2025, by way of her attorneys, Lowry despatched a letter to Perception relating to her alleged remedy by the corporate. Per week later, the agency terminated her employment, the go well with states.  

The lawsuit is harking back to Ellen Pao’s go well with towards Kleiner Perkins again in 2012, during which she alleged discrimination and retaliation. That go well with provided what was, on the time, a uncommon glimpse into how girls companions felt they had been handled in enterprise capital. Although Pao misplaced that go well with, it despatched waves by way of the business, and other women went on to sue main tech firms.