The CEO of a baby clothing brand has issued two groveling apologizes after denying an employee’s request to work remotely as she cared for her adopted premature son.
Ying Liu, the founder of Kyte Baby, took to TikTok to apologize to Marissa Hughes, a former worker who was fired after requesting to work from the neonatal intensive care unit at a Texas hospital. Liu posted the first apology Wednesday.
‘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,’ she said.
The CEO said she has the ‘utmost respect for the adoption community’ and her ‘good intentions were not fully communicated.’
The CEO of Kyte Baby issued two apologies to ex-employee Marissa Hughes, who requested to work remotely from the neonatal intensive care unit of an El Paso hospital following the birth of her adopted son
Ying Liu posted the first apology Wednesday, offering an apology to Hughes and affirming her ‘utmost respect for the adoption community’
Baby Judah, pictured with Hughes’ husband Rawley, was born premature at 22 weeks and weighed one pound. Due to ongoing health complications, he required a longer hospital stay
Hughes and husband Rawley, from Dallas, made the decision to adopt after she lost three pregnancies, went through IVF and nearly died during surgery.
The couple adopted their son Judah in late December. He was nine hours away in El Paso, born premature and barely weighing one pound.
As Judah had ‘various health concerns’ requiring an extended hospital stay, Hughes requested to work remotely from the NICU.
She was allegedly only offered two weeks and told she would lose her position if she failed to return to in-person work any later.
Liu posted a second apology Thursday after catching flak from internet users who suspected the first video was not genuine.
The CEO admitted ‘the comments were right’ and the video was ‘scripted.’
‘I was the one that made the decision to veto her request to go remote while she has to stay in the NICU to take care of her adopted baby,’ Liu said.
‘And when I think back, this 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 did not see the possibility of doing it remotely.’
Hughes lost three pregnancies and nearly died during surgery before she and her husband made the decision to adopt. They welcomed Judah to the family in December
After netizens accused Liu of being insincere in the first TikTok, she posted a second video admitting it had been scripted and characterizing her veto of Hughes’ remote work request as ‘insensitive’ and ‘selfish’
Stumbling over her words, she continued: ‘At the end of the day, as human beings, as a mom, as a female owner of a business and especially a baby business, I feel like I need to set the record straight.’
Despite claiming in the first video that she had attempted to reach out to Hughes to apologize personally, Liu confessed she ‘didn’t talk to her at all about what happened until today.’
She ended the video by praising the ex-employee, calling her a ‘fantastic woman’ with ‘the biggest heart.’
‘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,’ she said.
‘And your position, your original position, is always open for you when you come back.’
Earlier this week, Hughes said Judah was suffering from a blockage in his intestines and had holes in his lungs and heart.
The couple posted announcement to Facebook in October that they were ‘drowning in adoption paperwork, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!’
Hughes and Rawley created a GoFundMe to foot some of the expenses associated with adoption including legal fees and birth mother medical costs.
At the time of writing, the campaign had raised over $48,000 of its $50,000 goal.
The couple created a GoFundMe to help foot some of the expenses associated with adoption including various legal fees and costs for the birth mother
Hughes announced Judah was suffering from a blockage in his intestines and had holes in his lungs and heart
She and Rawley earned the support of several prominent figures in the baby care industry, including baby clothing company Kate Quinn and the CEO of lactation supplement company Legendairy Milk, who donated thousands of dollars each
Jonah’s story won the support of prominent figures in the baby care industry, who became the campaign’s top donors.
Baby clothing company Kate Quinn donated $2,000, while Luna Aziz, CEO of lactation supplement company Legendairy Milk, shelled out $5,000.
‘Thank you for loving him with us and lifting him in prayer,’ the couple wrote on GoFundMe.
‘He has already demonstrated so much strength, and we feel confident that God has big big plans for our tiny boy.’