Former Employee Accuses SF Standard Chief of Harassment and Wrongful Termination
A former employee of the San Francisco Standard accused the news outlet’s CEO and its ownership of sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
A lawsuit from Julia Ryan, the former director of growth at the Standard, against CEO Griffin Gaffney and Here/Say Media, which does business as the Standard, paints a portrait of a male-dominated culture where sexual remarks were tolerated and where female employees were treated differently.
The suit, filed in San Francisco Superior Court earlier this month, alleges that the Standard wrongfully terminated Ryan as “a scapegoat for a broader issue caused by several teams of men” — while protecting and supporting the careers of male employees.
“I had never seen a culture that was so inappropriate and unprofessional and sexist, where remarks like this were made and not addressed, where there were such different standards, different performance standards for men and women,” Ryan told KQED. ”I believe deeply in the value of local news, and I believed in the mission of what we were trying to accomplish. And this kind of culture holds organizations back from accomplishing their work and their mission.”
Ryan is seeking emotional and financial damages, though she and her attorneys declined to state an amount. In a phone call with KQED on Thursday, Ryan alleged that Gaffney made “sexualized and sexist comments” to her, creating situations that she felt were difficult to navigate. She described attending an event in San Francisco where Gaffney allegedly made belittling and highly critical remarks about women, and mocked them as having “crazy eyes” or “going on Ozempic.”
“He was very dismissive about female colleagues at other companies in ways that I found really concerning and distressing,” Ryan said. “It didn’t stay in the professional realm … it became personal attacks on that woman’s appearance, on her credentials, on how she got her job.”
Gaffney co-founded the Standard with financing from billionaire venture capitalist Michael Moritz.
The local news site employs about 75 people, including reporters, editors, photographers, software engineers, data analysts and social media producers, according to its website.
In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Standard disputed Ryan’s account of her performance leading subscription growth, and her allegations about why she was terminated.
“Gender played no role in the decision,” the statement said. “We will address these claims through the legal process, not in the press.”
What first raised “alarm bells” for Ryan, was the different treatment given to women and men “who had documented and acknowledged performance and behavioral issues, who were receiving really extraordinary measures to try to improve their performance, executive coaching.”
“I saw firsthand how this impacted other women at the company,” Ryan continued, “and not everyone has been in a position to speak up or do something about what’s been going on.”
Ryan, who lives in Rhode Island, was hired in 2024 as a remote employee, and traveled to San Francisco frequently for work, she said.
Instead of a dedicated Human Resources officer, the company’s Chief of Business Operations served both roles, the suit states. The CBO, also a woman, was “very close with Mr. Gaffney and reported directly to him,” which left Ryan without a meaningful avenue to address her concerns about the behavior of the CEO, she said.
In 2025, she discussed with other managers her observations that Gaffney applied different performance standards to men, compared to women. Ryan also “opposed the employment of at least two other men on the ground that they exhibited gender-biased behavior,” the lawsuit says.
Despite those issues, Gaffney expressed satisfaction with Ryan’s work, she said. Ryan, who is now 35, got her start working in editorial strategy and developing audiences for news with the New York Post and Airmail.
“I’m proud of the work that I was doing for more than a year,” she said. “All of the feedback I got was very positive in nature.”
In the days leading up to her termination, however, Gaffney confronted Ryan for poor performance, she said. She then confronted Gaffney about the double standard he had for men and women, and in response, the lawsuit says, Gaffney raised his voice and his tone became markedly more aggressive.
“Griffin became irate, and angry with me that I was pointing this out. And it was shortly thereafter that he terminated me,” she said.
Two days later, Gaffney fired Ryan, she said. He stated that The Standard was not meeting key performance indicators, and then blamed Ryan, as the director of growth. Gaffney gave her no time or support to improve her alleged performance issues, the lawsuit states.
Ryan said she’s been using the year since her termination to understand how to use “the legal system to stand up to this kind of harassment.”
“This is the lever that I have available to me right now to stand up and speak out about wrongdoing and problems,” Ryan said. “This is my opportunity to speak out about an injustice.”