Netflix exec sues, says ketamine-therapy confession at 'trust' retreat cost him $1.1M job

Kevin Baillie, former VP and head of creative at Netflix’s visual effects division, is suing the company for wrongful termination. At a January 2026 company retreat at Netflix’s Sendero Ranch, staff took part in a ‘Vulnerability-Trust exercise’ meant to encourage personal openness. Baillie disclosed that he had undergone medically supervised ketamine treatment for clinical depression at a Santa Barbara clinic in late 2022.

According to the suit, Netflix later opened an investigation into the remark. On March 18, 2026, a company investigator raised the disclosure in a way that suggested suspicion of recreational drug use, and Baillie — who earned roughly $1.1 million a year — was fired the following month and denied severance. Netflix’s own attorney reportedly acknowledged that the ketamine-therapy disclosure factored into the termination decision.

The case is a cautionary tale for corporate culture built around engineered ‘vulnerability.’ When employees are prompted to volunteer intimate medical details in a setting framed as safe, and that information later feeds an adverse employment action, companies expose themselves to disability-discrimination and privacy claims. Legal observers note the reputational and litigation damage to Netflix may outlast the individual dispute.