LOS GATOS, Calif., July 28 (San Francisco News Online) — Kevin Baillie, a former vice president and head of creative at Netflix’s Eyeline Studios, has sued Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX), alleging he lost a job that paid about $1.1 million a year after discussing medically supervised ketamine treatment during a company retreat.
The complaint turns on a basic workplace question with big financial stakes: how should an employer handle a worker’s medical history when it comes up in a team-building exercise? Baillie says the answer, in his case, was termination and a denial of severance worth up to a year of salary.
What Baillie says happened
According to the complaint, Baillie received medically supervised ketamine treatment at a Santa Barbara clinic in October and November 2022. He says the treatment was prescribed for clinical depression after his mother’s death.
Baillie says he later disclosed that treatment at a January 2026 “vulnerability-trust exercise” during a Netflix retreat at Sendero Ranch, a Netflix-owned property in Northern California.
The complaint says Netflix then investigated the remarks. On March 18, 2026, a Netflix investigator questioned Baillie, allegedly “in a manner suggesting suspicion of recreational drug use.”
Baillie also says a company attorney later confirmed that “the ketamine therapy issue has factored into the termination.”
Why the money matters
Baillie says he was fired in April 2026. He says his compensation in the role was about $1.1 million a year, and that Netflix denied him severance pay worth up to a year of salary.
For a public company like Netflix, employment disputes can matter beyond one worker’s paycheck. They can raise questions for employees about privacy and trust, and for investors about legal costs, workplace culture and reputational risk.
What else is in the complaint?
The lawsuit also includes an unrelated retreat anecdote. Baillie says he drank a Guinness while standing on his head after colleagues asked him to demonstrate the trick.
The filing, as described in the reporting, does not say that episode was the reason for his firing.
What is Baillie asking for?
Baillie is seeking a jury trial and damages that include lost wages, emotional distress, compensatory damages and punitive damages.
What is still unclear?
The available court papers reviewed in reporting do not identify the specific court where the case was filed. They also do not name the Netflix investigator or the company attorney mentioned in the complaint.
Netflix’s full response was not included in the materials reviewed for this article.
