A mother who was allegedly fired from a baby clothing brand when her newborn son was hospitalized has broken her silence.
Marissa Hughes, 26, had requested to work from a neonatal intensive care unit at a Texas hospital as she cared for her adopted premature son Judah. But she was allegedly only offered two weeks by clothing company Kyte Baby and told she would lose her position if she failed to return to in-person work.
‘It was never my intention to quit — I was willing to work from the NICU,’ Marissa told TODAY.com. ‘I did tell them, “This is a slap in the face … My child is fighting for his life.”‘
Marissa’s recap comes after Kyte Baby CEO and founder Ying Liu was forced to issue two groveling apologies to the new mom following the incident. Backlash against the clothing company online has been swift for their failure to accommodate the mom.
Marissa Hughes, who was allegedly fired from a baby clothing brand when her newborn son was hospitalized, has broken her silence. She spoke out after the CEO of her company issued two apologies on social media
Hughes and husband Rawley, from Dallas, decided 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 weighed one pound.
Marissa requested to work remotely from the NICU as Judah had ‘various health concerns’ requiring an extended hospital stay.
She claimed she was initially allowed to work remotely before she was called and fired and her story went viral among sympathetic Americans.
‘All that matters is my son. I spend most of the day staring in his little incubator … he has been my focus. Our biggest prayer is for him to be OK,’ the young mother said.
‘To me, honesty is so important, and some of the things they are saying on their end are just not truthful and makes me seem dishonest and that really bothers me.’
Kyte Baby, which sells baby clothing made with bamboo, insisted Marissa was mistakenly denied permission to work remotely and that she ‘declined’ an offer to return to work.
But she refutes that notion and says her managers did allow her to work away from the office and part-time while her son was in the hospital.
Marissa said she was reviewing the maternity leave paperwork when she was called and fired.
CEO Liu ‘did not feel [Marissa’s] job could be done remotely and if she could not return to the office after her maternity leave, then we would part ways,’ a company spokesman said.
The company added Marissa was told ‘a job would be there when she was ready to return.’
But the mother claims she was told ‘When you get home and you decide that you want to work again, we would consider taking you back.’
She said: ‘Why say you’ll “consider it?” I was never told I had a job.’
Hughes and her husband, Rawley, decided to adopt after she lost three pregnancies, went through IVF and nearly died during surgery
Hughes, 26, requested to work from a neonatal intensive care unit at a Texas hospital as she cared for her adopted premature son Judah. But she was allegedly offered two weeks by Kyte Baby and told she would lose her job if she failed to return to in-person work any later
Judah was in the neonatal intensive care unit that is nine hours away from Marissa’s home and the Kyte Baby office and she informed Liu and the managers about her situation.
Initially, Marissa took part in a video call on January 5 with two other supervisors to discuss her new remote-working schedule.
‘We set up my entire schedule hour-by-hour and even set check-in dates going forward,’ Marissa said.
‘I was under the impression we were creating a new schedule based on what had already been discussed and approved.’
She then looked at the company’s maternity leave policy and said she would have a discussion with her husband as to whether or not to wait until their son was home from the hospital to use it.
But Marissa claimed ‘I was fired about 8 hours later’ after a conversation with a HR manager.
‘I was told, “Hey, unfortunately, we won’t be able to [make this arrangement] and for that reason, we will take this as your resignation.”’
She was in tears and told them: ‘This isn’t what I wanted. I’m not resigning and I’m willing to work … It was never my intention to quit.’
Marissa said: ‘They were stumbling… Then they said, “We don’t want you to think you’re doing the wrong thing by choosing Judah.”’
‘I interrupted them … and said, ”Not once did I ever doubt my decision to choose my son.”
‘Not once. I would choose him again and again … I never doubted that decision but I wasn’t expecting this.
Kyte Baby CEO and founder Ying Liu was forced to issue two groveling apologies to Marissa following the incident
Liu posted the first apology Wednesday, offering an apology to Hughes and affirming her ‘utmost respect for the adoption community’
CEO Liu took to TikTok on January 18 to apologize to Marissa and said: ‘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 added that she has the ‘utmost respect for the adoption community’ and her ‘good intentions were not fully communicated.’
But she posted a second apology following backlash 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.’
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.’
Marissa said Liu tried to call her twice but she couldn’t answer because she was with her son’s medical team.
Hughes announced Judah was suffering from a blockage in his intestines and had holes in his lungs and heart
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
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
She later responded via text and Liu wrote back in order to personally apologize over the phone.
Marissa provided her personal email address and claimed Liu did not follow up. She made it clear that she will not be going back to Kyte Baby ‘despite the new offer to do so’.
She also declined an offer for her salary to be paid for the hours that were initially proposed.
‘No company is perfect, but … I don’t think that’s a healthy work environment for me,’ the mother added.
‘It’s important for people to know that both biological and adoptive parents are families.
‘Companies should recognize that children and families always come before career and that flexibility may be required when life gets hard. That’s compassion.’
A Kyte Baby spokesman said: ‘Ying reached out to apologize over the phone and is still open to having a conversation.’
They added Liu anonymously contributed $1,000 to Marissa’s GoFundMe campaign.
Marissa and Rawley created a fundraising page to foot some of the expenses associated with adoption including legal fees and the birth mother’s medical costs.
Judah’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.
The family’s GoFundMe page has so far raised $94,000 which is almost double the initial goal they set out.
DailyMail.com has contacted Kyte Baby for comment.