Insight Partners was challenged by vice president Kate Lowry

Kate Lowry, who was a vice president at Insight Partners, is suing the company, alleging disability discrimination, gender discrimination, and wrongful termination, according to the suit filed on December 30 in San Mateo County, California, and seen by TechCrunch.

Insight Partners did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.

Lowry told TechCrunch that she filed the lawsuit because she believes that “a lot of powerful, wealthy people who are involved act like it’s okay to break the law and underpay and abuse their employees.”

“It’s an oppressive system that reflects (these) many human tendencies that use fear, intimidation, and power to suppress and suppress the truth. I’m trying to change that.”

Lowry began working at Insight Partners in 2022, having previously worked at Meta, McKinsey & Company, and early stage startups. The court says that, after being hired, he was appointed as a different supervisor than the one named during the interview.

The suit alleges that he was told by his new supervisor, who was a woman, to be “online at all times, including PTO, holidays, and weekends,” and to answer between “6 a.m. and 11 p.m. every day.”

Lowry claims in the suit that the first supervisor “belittled, angered, and provoked” her, she spoke openly about the cries that would be “longer and louder” than the other male reports.

Other comments the supervisor allegedly made, according to the suit, included “you can’t do it, shut up and take notes” and “you have to listen to me like a dog; do whatever I say, don’t talk.” Lowry also claims her manager assigned her “unnecessary tasks” and prevented her from participating in auditions, while allowing less experienced men to do so. Lowry, instead, he says, was relegated to “administrative tasks such as typing and typing.”

Lowry said he became “very sick” because of the place he worked and that the doctor advised him not to go to the hospital, which he was given and took from February to July 2023.

When he returned to work, he was assigned to a new team and, the judge says, was told by a human resources officer that “if the new team didn’t like him, he would be fired.”

In September 2023, Lowry said that he was caught in a conflict and took another medical leave and returned to work at the end of 2024. Due to other visits, he was placed under the supervision of a new person, where Lowry said that his poor treatment continued. He added that in 2024, his compensation was about 30% below the market.

As of April 2025, he is said to have been told his compensation will be cut. In May of 2025, through his lawyers, Mr. Lowry sent a letter to Insight regarding the alleged treatment of the company. A week later, the company terminated his employment, according to his statement.

The case is reminiscent of Ellen Pao’s lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins in 2012, in which she alleged discrimination and retaliation. That suit provided what, at the time, was a rare insight into how homosexual women feel about being abused. Although Pao lost the suit, it sent waves through the industry, and some women went to sue major technology companies.