Kyte Baby CEO apologizes for ‘selfish’ firing of mom with baby in NICU

globalnews.ca:

The children’s clothing brand Kyte Baby has been at the centre of a growing controversy after the company denied a parental leave request for a mother whose adopted newborn was receiving treatment in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

Kyte Baby CEO Ying Liu last week issued a social media apology to the employee identified only as Marissa, who said she had been fired from the company. But, amid insistences that the apology was disingenuous and growing buzz of a customer boycott, Liu later apologized for her apology.

Naturally, the second apology only brought more attention to situation — especially since Marissa had offered to work remotely from the NICU prior to being fired from her position as an on-site employee in the company’s photo studio.

Liu said she’d made a “terrible mistake” in her treatment of the new mother.

But in an interview with Today.com, Marissa alleged that some of what Liu said online is “not truthful and makes me seem dishonest.”

Though Marissa’s primary attention right now is on her newborn, many social media users sympathized with her struggle as a new mother working in corporate America.

Kyte Baby, a Texas-based company that sells infant clothing and sleep sacs made with bamboo, prides itself on being a “family-oriented company,” according to Liu.

In her initial apology to Marissa, which was posted on Jan. 18 and has since been viewed 2.8 million times on TikTok, Liu appeared to be reading from a script.

“I wanted to sincerely apologize to Marissa for how her parental leave was communicated and handled in the midst of her incredible journey of adoption and starting a family,” Liu said.

Liu said she’d been trying to reach out to Marissa privately, but her attempts were unsuccessful.

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