A former account manager at Flock Safety sued the surveillance technology company in federal court in Austin on Monday, alleging she was scrutinized more harshly than her male colleagues, pushed into an unfair travel assignment, and ultimately fired after she complained. Megan Deterling, who worked as a major accounts manager at the company starting in January 2024, says she endured a sexist “boys club” culture before Flock terminated her in July 2025.
Allegations of Unequal Treatment and a Punishing Reassignment
According to the lawsuit, as reported by Law360, Deterling received fewer and lower-quality accounts than her male peers and says managers ridiculed and demeaned her during team meetings. Per the Austin American-Statesman, she alleges she was reassigned to handle accounts outside her home state, requiring extensive travel, and was told she was the only Flock employee forced to work that way. The lawsuit says multiple peers reached out to Deterling about the reassignment, with one warning her she now had a target on her back.
Deterling began raising internal complaints in January 2025, according to the Statesman's report, and says she was promised that accounts would be redistributed more fairly that year. Instead, she says a manager berated and insulted her about her performance even though she was outperforming many of her peers. She says her supervisors failed to address her concerns and retaliated against her instead — and alleges Flock was trying to make her quit.
Investigation Closed Within Weeks, Then a Firing
The lawsuit says Flock closed an investigation into Deterling's formal human resources complaint just weeks after it began, finding no harassment or discrimination, according to her account. She was fired in July 2025. Deterling is now suing for retaliation and discrimination, seeking lost wages and benefits, front pay or reinstatement, compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys' and expert fees, costs and interest, per the Statesman's reporting.
A Flock spokesperson said the company is confident in its position and intends to vigorously defend against the allegations, according to the Statesman. The lawsuit accuses Flock Safety of discriminating against a female employee and retaliating against her for raising concerns, though the underlying allegations remain claims made in litigation rather than findings established in court.
A Company Already Under Pressure
The lawsuit lands as Flock Safety faces fallout over revelations of abuses involving its technology, which has installed thousands of internet-connected public license plate-reading cameras across the country. Press reports have documented officers abusing the system to monitor personal connections and stalk former lovers. Some Texas cities have barred use of Flock cameras and ended their contracts altogether, part of a broader reckoning for the Atlanta-based company.
That reckoning has hit Flock's finances and workforce too. Wired reported that Flock's downturn led the company to roll out a voluntary employee separation program last month, giving its roughly 1,500 workers until Oct. 2 to decide whether to accept severance and leave. The offer came even though Flock had raised money in April at a valuation north of $8 billion, the outlet noted. Flock CEO Garrett Langley has said the backlash's “biggest damage” has been to internal morale, the same report added.
Flock keeps bleeding municipal customers as it tries to weather the controversy. The same Wired report found that an advocacy group identified 93 city and county governments that cut ties with Flock in August alone, and that roughly three times as many local governments dropped the company in 2026 as in the previous five years combined.
Texas Cities Keep Pulling the Plug
Texas has become a flashpoint in that pushback. The Houston Chronicle found that two dozen Texas cities and counties have taken steps to remove Flock's automated license plate readers or end their contracts with the company. Austin's own police department discontinued its automated license plate reader policy in July 2025 after ending its Flock pilot program, saying it had no plans to negotiate a new contract.
Other Texas communities followed. The Bandera City Council voted 3-2 in May to terminate its Flock contract, remove existing equipment and halt new camera installations, the Chronicle reported. Bastrop's city council voted unanimously on Sept. 8 to decommission its system after ordering its 12 cameras covered, while Leander's police department stopped using Flock cameras and data as of Sept. 4. Pflugerville ended its contract in August and covered all its cameras, and Dallas has moved to shut down 321 state-funded readers while keeping roughly 300 city-funded cameras running. TechCrunch has reported that numerous state and local governments, including in Florida and Texas, have said they will stop using the technology altogether.
Flock also faces a separate federal class action in Colorado, where plaintiff Chrisanna Elser alleges Flock footage contributed to her being wrongly prosecuted for a crime she did not commit, according to Courthouse News. A Flock spokesperson told the outlet the company would defend itself in court and attributed Elser's incident to human error.
