The owner of clothing brand Kite Baby has apologized twice after an employee was allegedly denied the option to work from home after adopting a 22-week-old premature baby.
Kyte Baby founder Ying Liu said employee Marissa Hughes was left in the can after her work-from-home request to care for a newborn for nine hours in a hospital's neonatal intensive care unit was denied. In response, he responded to the criticism on TikTok. Away.
“I really want to apologize to her and the community and I want to take this opportunity to say I'm really sorry.” Liu said in a second apology video on Thursday..
Ryu had I posted an apology the day before.However, she quickly doubled down after critics accused her of sounding “scripted.”
Hughes and her husband, Laurie, of Dallas, adopted baby Judah Al Haven Hughes in late December after being contacted by an adoption agency.
Judah lives nine hours away in El Paso, Texas, where he was born prematurely at 22 weeks and weighing just 1 pound, his new family revealed on GoFundMe.
Hughes said in a fundraiser that raised nearly $40,000 that her baby, who was born prematurely and had “various health concerns,” will require an extended stay in the hospital and is expected to be released from the NICU by the end of March. revealed.
Hughes has not publicly commented on her alleged termination, but reportedly asked to work at the hospital while her baby was in the hospital, but was offered just two weeks. That's what it means.
The Post has reached out to Hughes for comment.
A new mom's tenure with Kyte Baby is less than one year and is not subject to the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
To qualify for FMLA, an employee must work for a company with 50 or more employees and have worked at least 1,250 hours in the 12-month period prior to the leave of absence. According to the Ministry of Labor. FMLA gives employees 12 weeks of unpaid leave while also preserving benefits such as medical care.
Adoptive parents can also take maternity leave if their company allows it. It is unclear whether Kyte Baby will do so.
Hughes had been struggling with infertility before deciding to adopt the baby, and was reportedly told that if she did not return within two weeks, she would lose her job at Kite.
but, Hughes' sister revealed in now-deleted video Another pregnant Kyte employee was also posted on TikTok that she was offered time off and invited to the company's warehouse to pick up products from the registry.
Liu said he was the one who “vetoed the request to go remote,” which in retrospect he admits was “a terrible decision, insensitive, and selfish.”
“[I] Her work has always been focused on the fact that it has always been done on-site, and she never considered the possibility of doing it remotely,” the baby brand owner said in a TikTok video.
“I can't imagine the stress she was going through, not having the option of going back to work and having to take care of her newborn in the NICU,” Liu continued. “Looking back, that was a really terrible mistake. I own 100% of it.”
Liu said he would review its human resources policies and procedures because he agreed with critics that Kyte Baby needed to “lead by example.”
She also praised Hughes as a “wonderful woman” with “the biggest heart”.
Mr. Liu also offered Mr. Hughes his job back, saying he would receive full benefits and could do it remotely if he requested. She also said her new mother will continue to be paid until she decides to return.
“If you come back, your old position will always be open,” she said.
It's unclear whether Hughes will return to the Dallas-based company. The newspaper has contacted Kyte Baby for comment.
Early this week, Hughes gave an update on baby Judah's condition. She said he will be transferred to a level 4 NICU and has a blockage in his intestines, an infection and holes in his lungs and heart.
