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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA former employee is suing Zscaler, alleging the cybersecurity company discriminated against him because he’s a man and retaliated against him over a paternity leave.
Hamilton County resident Ryan Ulrick, the company’s former principal product manager, alleges he faced a hostile work environment after interrupting his paternity leave to attend a business trip in Europe in June 2025, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.
Santa Clara, Calif.-based Zscaler does business in Marion County, which is part of the southern district, the lawsuit notes.
A representative of Zscaler did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Indiana Lawyer Tuesday afternoon.
Ulrick’s direct manager asked him to attend the trip in her place after a company executive raised concerns about her traveling internationally because she was not a U.S. citizen, according to the lawsuit.
After arriving in Europe, Ulrick discovered the manager had also decided to attend the trip. The lawsuit alleges the trip unnecessarily cut into his paternity leave.
After returning from leave and the conference, Ulrick said in the lawsuit that he “observed immediate hostility and avoidance” from the manager.
He reported the issue to human resources about a month after the conference, according to the lawsuit. A human resources representative told him the manager had complained that Ulrick failed to disclose his planned paternity leave before accepting a new role earlier that year.
Ulrick was hired as a principal sales engineer in 2023 and became a principal product manager nearly two years later.
Despite previously receiving high performance ratings, Ulrick received the lowest possible score during a performance review cycle that started around Aug. 1, 2025, according to the lawsuit.
For nearly two months, the manager sent Ulrick weekly performance-related emails that the lawsuit described as “increasingly hostile and retaliatory.”
Ulrick submitted his resignation in October 2025 and says he left the following month. He later sought reemployment with Zscaler in March but was deemed ineligible despite previously being told otherwise, according to the lawsuit.
Ulrick alleges Zscaler retaliated against him in violation of the Family and Medical Leave Act. over his paternity leave and discriminated against him based on his gender “by subjecting him to disparate treatment and terms of employment,” the lawsuit states.
He is asking the court to permanently prohibit the company from committing similar violations. He also seeks punitive, compensatory and liquidated damages, attorney fees, lost wages, lost benefits, legal costs and other relief deemed appropriate by the court.
The case is Ryan Ulrick v. Zscaler Inc., 1:26-cv-02213-JPH-MG.
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