A former employee has sued the SF Standard’s co-founder and CEO, alleging he made sexually inappropriate comments about women, held female employees to higher standards than men, and fired her shortly after she raised concerns about the treatment.
Julia Ryan, 35, was hired as the San Francisco Standard’s Director of Growth in June 2024 and began reporting directly to CEO Griffin Gaffney that October. Ryan’s lawsuit says she received a roughly 20% raise seven months after joining and a strong performance review in early 2025, along with repeated positive feedback from Gaffney in the months before her termination.
According to the complaint, Ryan says she began raising concerns about what she viewed as a gender-biased workplace, including sexually explicit and disparaging comments Gaffney allegedly made about women on Slack. Among the comments attributed to Gaffney, the lawsuit says he told Ryan that it takes a “hot ass” to close business deals. The lawsuit also says he suggested she have an affair with a business partner’s significant other, mocked a woman’s appearance and weight loss while discussing Ozempic, and disparaged a prominent female technology executive.
Ryan alleges she was treated less favorably than male colleagues despite her performance, and that she was blamed for problems outside her control. She also says she repeatedly saw Gaffney apply stricter standards to women, raising those concerns with managers and directly with Gaffney.
The complaint says Ryan’s relationship with Gaffney changed abruptly in August 2025. On August 1, she received what she describes as her first negative performance feedback, including criticism related to work overseen by male-led teams. During an August 4 meeting, Ryan challenged what she considered a gendered double standard.
“His tone became markedly more aggressive during that conversation and subsequent communications with Ms. Ryan,” the complaint states.
Two days later, Ryan was fired. According to the lawsuit, Gaffney told her the company was falling short of its KPIs and held her responsible for the shortfall. Her attorneys argue that she was made a scapegoat for problems involving other departments, while male employees were given substantially more time and opportunities to improve.
“One of these male employees had documented performance issues for years before The Standard gave him several months of executive coaching and a performance improvement plan, then finally fired him,” reads the lawsuit. “The other two were not fired despite receiving significant negative feedback throughout 2024 and 2025. They both received executive coaching and other efforts to improve their performance.”
The complaint also alleges that another senior female employee was terminated shortly after Ryan under similarly abrupt circumstances, and that other women experienced comparable treatment. Ryan alleges the company was aware of concerns about Gaffney’s conduct and unequal treatment, but did not have adequate HR procedures for employees to report them.
Mission Local spoke with former employees of the Standard who described Gaffney as a “difficult leader.” One former senior employee confirmed the behavior described in Ryan’s lawsuit was consistent with their experience there, including what they described as an “uphill struggle for women” and “bizarre” comments from Gaffney.
Another former senior employee, who described Ryan herself as a toxic leader and difficult to work with, nonetheless said the Standard had taken on a “tech company” culture under Gaffney and acknowledged that the workplace could be difficult.
Two other former employees described the Standard environment in general as “a very toxic workplace” and a “boy’s club” atmosphere where sexual innuendo was deeply embedded there.
Ryan filed the lawsuit September 9 in San Francisco Superior Court, seeking damages for lost wages, bonuses, equity, benefits, emotional distress, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and other relief. According to SFGate, Ryan is suing for damages in excess of $35,000, but we do not know the full amount being sought.
The SF Standard disputed Ryan’s allegations in a statement provided to SFGate by Chelsea Kohler of Evergreen Strategy Group, saying Ryan had been hired to lead subscription growth, which had fallen “well short of the Company’s ambitions.”
“Ms. Ryan acknowledged the shortfall at the time, and her complaint does not dispute it now,” the statement said. “What she disputes is why her employment ended, and on that the allegations do not reflect the facts.”
The company also said gender played no role in the termination and that it would address Ryan’s claims through the legal process.
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