Spotify sued for gender discrimination by former executive; claims “boys only” trips to strip clubs & drug use

Spotify is being sued for gender discrimination, equal pay violation and defamation by a former executive.

According to Variety, Hong Perez, a former sales executive filed the lawsuit today in New York Supreme Court against the company and her former boss Brian Berner.

In the complaint that was obtained by Pitchfork, Perez accuses Berner of having “boys” only trips to Sundance Film Festival in 2016 & 2017 that involved drug use and even a physical altercation but not nobody was ever fired or disciplined. Perez claims there were also male only trips to strip clubs in Atlantic City.

Perez claims that after Berner had got into trouble after receiving free tickets to Madison Square Garden, Perez was falsely blamed for the incident and fired from her job. Perez accuses Spotify of emailing the entire sales team and letting them know that she was let go due to violating code of conduct.

Perez says in the complaint “Berner was well aware of male employees violating the code of conduct, yet did nothing.”

The complaint also states that male employees were awarded higher pays compared to female employees.

Spotify released a statement to Pitchfork saying “At Spotify, we do not tolerate discrimination of any kind at any level,” a spokesperson wrote. “While we cannot comment on the specific details of a pending litigation, these claims are without merit.”