A baby clothing company is under fire for denying an employee’s request to work from home while she cared for her premature newborn in the NICU.
According to a GoFundMe, Marissa Hughes and her husband Rawley had spent the past three years trying to have a baby of their own, attempting everything from in vitro fertilization, intrauterine insemination, and enduring pregnancy losses, and a near-fatal surgery where Melissa briefly clinically died. The couple even served as foster parents throughout the process.
When Melissa and Rawley realized they needed to explore other options to have a family, they turned to adoption in October. Two months later, they received a call: There was a baby available for adoption in a neonatal intensive care unit at an El Paso hospital nine hours away from their Dallas home. Per the fundraiser page, their son Judah was “born at 22 weeks gestation and barely over a pound,” so he wouldn’t be discharged from the hospital until the end of March.
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Wanting to be by her new baby boy’s side (understandably), Marissa asked her employer, Kyte Baby, if they would give her time off. The company gave her two weeks of paid leave. When Hughs asked if she could work remotely following that, they denied the request. She begged them to reconsider. But according to a since-deleted video from her sister Kailee Moeller, the brand told Marissa she would be giving up her job if she stayed at the hospital. And of course, Marissa ended up staying with her little guy.
@micropreemiejourney Kyte Baby fired Marissa (former employee) due to not being able to physically be at her employer’s warehouse. Marissa recently adopted a micro (22 weeks). The NICU is already strenuous enough. No parent should have to worry about losing their job. Please share. ???? #micropreemie #adoptionmatters #kytebaby #kytebabydrama #kyte #kytebabyclothing #micropreemiemom
♬ original sound – JD | Life After NICU ????
Having a child in the NICU is already hard enough on a parent. And the fact that Marissa was still trying to do her job while being in the NICU? She was being very accommodating to the brand amid her difficult situation. So it is beyond f**ked up that the company told Marissa her job would be terminated if she worked from home — instead of being understanding!
Naturally, when this story went viral on social media, fellow parents were enraged over the lack of sympathy from Kyte Baby. Social media users even called for a boycott of the brand. It got so bad the CEO Ying Liu responded to the backlash on TikTok, saying:
“I want to hop on here to sincerely apologize to Marissa for how her parental leave was communicated and handled in the midst of her incredible journey of adopting and starting a family. Kyte Baby prides itself in being a family-oriented company. We treat biological and non-biological parents equally. Through my personal and professional experiences, I have the utmost respect for babies, families, and the adoption community.”
Ying went on to say the whole situation came down to a breakdown in communication:
“It was my oversight that she didn’t feel supported, as we always have intended. As offered to her originally, we would find her a position whenever she decides to return to work.”
@kytebaby ♬ original sound – kytebaby
Hmm. If Ying hoped this would ease the backlash, she would be sorely mistaken! She was further slammed for creating a calculated and insincere response. So Ying went off the cuff in a second apology video! She took to TikTok again, admitting she made a “terrible decision”:
“It wasn’t sincere and I’ve decided to go off-script. Sincerely, what went wrong is how we treated Marissa and I’m the one who made the decision to veto her request to go remote as she stays in the NICU to take care of her adopted baby. When I think back, that was a terrible decision. I was insensitive, selfish and was only focused on the fact that her job had always been done on-site and I didn’t see the possibility of doing it remotely. However, having a little bit of sensitivity and understanding would have accommodated her, and I did not accommodate her.”
Calling Marissa a “fantastic woman” with “the biggest heart,” Ying insisted she could come back to the company if she wanted:
“I understand if you don’t want to come back to work anymore, but we will continue to pay you as if you were working remotely for us for those hours that you proposed until you’re ready to come back. And your position, your original position, is always open for you when you come back.”
@kytebaby ♬ original sound – kytebaby
Umm… It is safe to say Marissa won’t be coming back after you threatened her job when she only tried to a figure out solution where she could still work and be there for her baby. Reactions to the Kyte Baby drama, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF in the comments below!
[Image via Kyte Baby/TikTok]