Kate Lowry, a former vice president at Insight Partners, is suing the company for disability discrimination, gender discrimination and wrongful termination, according to a lawsuit filed Dec. 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 “too many powerful, wealthy people in a corporation act as if it is okay to break the law and systematically underpay and abuse their employees.”
“It is an oppressive system that reflects[s] broader trends in society that use fear, intimidation and power to silence and isolate the truth. I’m trying to change that.”
Lowry started working at Insight Partners in 2022, after previously working for Meta, McKinsey & Company and an early-stage startup. The lawsuit alleges that when she was hired, she was assigned to a different supervisor than the person mentioned during her job interview.
She claims in the lawsuit that her new supervisor, who was a woman, told her she had to be “online at all times, including holidays, vacations and weekends” and that she had to respond daily between “6 a.m. and 11 p.m.”
Lowry says in the lawsuit that this first supervisor “berated, coddled and stonewalled” her and openly talked about a hazing that would be “longer and more intense” than what she endured other male reports.
Some comments the supervisor allegedly made, according to the lawsuit, include “you are incompetent, keep your mouth shut and take notes” and “you must obey me like a dog; do what I say when I say it, without speaking.” Lowry also claims that her supervisor assigned her “redundant duties” and limited her ability to participate in phone calls, while allowing less experienced male colleagues to do so. Instead, she claims, Lowry was relegated to “administrative duties such as note-taking and cataloguing.”
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Lowry said she became “increasingly sicker” due to the work environment and her doctor recommended a medical leave of absence, which she was granted and took from February to July 2023.
When she returned to work, she was placed on a new team and, the lawsuit alleges, was told by the human resources director that “if the new team did not like her, she would be fired.”
In September 2023, Lowry said she suffered a concussion, took another medical leave of absence, and returned to work in late 2024. Due to some departures, she was placed under the supervision of a new person, where Lowry said her poor treatment continued. She also claims her 2024 compensation was about 30% below market.
In April 2025, she claims she was told her compensation would be reduced. In May 2025, Lowry sent a letter to Insight through her lawyers about her alleged treatment by the company. A week later, the company terminated her employment, the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit is reminiscent of Ellen Pao’s 2012 lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins, in which she alleged discrimination and retaliation. That lawsuit offered a rare glimpse at the time into how female partners felt treated in venture capital. Even though Pao lost that suit, it sent waves through the industry, and other women filed suit major technology companies.
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