Suit alleges manager stripped responsibilities and withheld commissions after employee disclosed fertility plans
A former sales executive at Kraken claims she was fired while ten weeks pregnant after her manager stripped away her responsibilities and gave them to male colleagues.
Ayse Iyigundogdu filed suit against Payward Inc., the company behind cryptocurrency exchange Kraken, in Manhattan federal court on November 6. The case centers on allegations that paint a cautionary picture for employers navigating fertility benefits, workplace accommodations, and gender equity.
Iyigundogdu joined Kraken in 2018 and rose quickly. In less than two years she became the top salesperson across all company products and earned a promotion to Head of Institutional Sales and Relationships for the U.S. and Latin America. After rebuilding the sales team when a large group left for a competitor in 2021, she brought in the company's first exchange-traded fund clients and developed a sales pipeline for Kraken's custody product worth approximately $1 billion, according to the filing.
The trajectory changed in April 2023 when Tim Ogilvie became her manager. The suit describes a systematic transfer of her key responsibilities to male colleagues with whom Ogilvie had previous relationships. Her work on custody services, ETF clients, and major accounts allegedly went to men who then took credit for relationships she had spent years building.
The situation intensified after Iyigundogdu sought expanded health benefits. In January 2024, she asked HR to add IVF coverage, which the company approved. Executive leadership, including Ogilvie, learned of the request through HR discussions and internal system notifications.
In February 2024, shortly after the benefits expansion, she told Ogilvie she would need time off for fertility treatments. By March she was attending appointments every other day for two weeks, taking one and a half days off for each of two medical procedures, then following up every four or five days for about two months.
During this period, the suit alleges, Ogilvie and another executive, David Olsson, accelerated efforts to sideline her. They allegedly contacted her clients directly, excluded her from meetings about her own accounts, and reassigned major relationships. In one instance, Olsson reportedly used an unauthorized communication channel with a key client, triggering compliance violations that reflected poorly on Iyigundogdu.
Her spring 2024 performance review, covering the fourth quarter of 2023, came as a shock. The filing describes it as filled with what she characterizes as false criticisms that contradicted years of stellar reviews and praise. Ogilvie allegedly skipped the standard practice of gathering peer feedback, a protocol followed for other employees.
Her fertility treatments succeeded and she became pregnant in May 2024. Two months later, on July 8, Ogilvie informed her that Kraken was terminating her employment, providing no explanation. She was ten weeks pregnant.
The compensation disparities alleged in the case are stark. While Iyigundogdu earned $173,000, Olsson at the same level made between $250,000 and $300,000. A junior male employee hired to report to her came in at $160,000, prompting the company to raise her salary by just $13,000.
The suit also claims Kraken owes approximately $250,000 or more in unpaid commissions. After Ogilvie became her manager, commission payments allegedly stopped or became irregular. When she raised concerns, he said via Slack he was too busy. He assigned Olsson to calculate what was owed, but Olsson reportedly claimed he could not gather the necessary data.
The case includes claims under federal and state anti-discrimination laws as well as wage violations. No determination has been made on the merits of the allegations. Kraken has not yet responded to the suit.
