19 January 2024 , 13:01
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A baby clothing CEO fired a mum who asked to work remotely while her adopted premature newborn baby was in hospital.
Ying Liu, the founder of Kyte Baby, issued a grovelling apology on TikTok after her worker Marissa Hughes was sacked after requesting to work from the neonatal intensive care unit at a Texas hospital.
"I want to hop on here to sincerely apologise 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 on Wednesday. After the backlash on social media, the CEO claimed she has the "utmost respect for the adoption community" and claimed her "good intentions were not fully communicated."
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The CEO issued an apology after she sacked her worker (kytebaby/TikTok)
Ying Liu was slammed by social media users for her video (kytebaby/TikTok)Hughes, who is from Dallas, and her husband Rawley decided to adopt after she lost three pregnancies, had multiple rounds of IVF, and nearly died during surgery.
Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him
The pair adopted son Judah in December and he was born premature nine hours away in El Paso, barely weighing one pound. As their son had "various health concerns", Hughes requested to work remotely from the NICU. However, she was allegedly offered just two weeks by Ms Liu and told she would lose her job if she failed to turn up in person.
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Marissa Hughes and her partner adopted a little boy (Marissa Hughes/Facebook)Ms Liu was forced to offer a second apology video on Thursday after social media users claimed the first video was not genuine and clearly "scripted." The CEO later admitted "the comments were right."
"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."
As she stuttered and stumbled in her speech, the CEO added: "At the end of the day, as human beings, as a mum, as a female owner of a business and especially a baby business, I feel like I need to set the record straight.'
The child was born premature (Marissa Hughes/Facebook)In the first video, the clothing boss said she had attempted to reach out to Hughes to apologise but it was later revealed by Liu that she "didn't talk to her at all about what happened until today." At the end of the video, she praised the former employee calling her a "fantastic woman" with "the biggest heart" - and pleaded with her to return to the company.
"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."
Hughes and Rawley set up a GoFundMe page to help cover medical and legal bills which has so far raised a staggering $48,000 (£42,000.) "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."