The new mom at the center of the Kyte Baby drama is speaking out for the first time.
In an interview with Today, after the CEO of Kyte Baby offered a public apology to her, Marissa is opening up about her side of the issue. “It was never my intention to quit,” Marissa explained after learning her son was born at 22 weeks prematurely. “I was willing to work from the NICU! I did tell them, ‘This is a slap in the face … My child is fighting for his life.'”
The way Kyte Baby handled the situation shocked the moms of the world. How could a company, a company that caters to moms and children alike, treat one of their employees like this, especially under these circumstances. The conversation brought the issue of maternity leave in America to the forefront.
“All that matters is my son. I spend most of the day staring in his little incubator … he has been my focus,” Marissa continued. “Our biggest prayer is for him to be OK. 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.”
As Today reports, after Marissa’s story went viral, Kyte Baby claimed that they “mistakenly” denied her request to work remotely and that’s when Marissa “declined” to return to work. But according to Marissa, that’s not exactly true. Marissa says her work remotely request was initially approved by her manager and she was given permission to work part-time.
However, something changed suddenly and Marissa says the company later called her and fired her for not returning to the office despite her infant son fighting for his life in the NICU. Marissa adds that the company also told her, “‘When you get home and you decide that you want to work again, we would consider taking you back.’ Why say you’ll ‘consider it?’ I was never told I had a job.”
However, a spokesperson for Kyte Baby told that the CEO “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.” The spokesperson continued, saying Marissa was told “a job would be there when she was ready to return.”
As a result of the back and forth, Marissa admits she feels it’s in her and her family’s best interest that she not return to work for Kyte Baby. “No company is perfect, but … I don’t think that’s a healthy work environment for me.”
“It’s important for people to know that both biological and adoptive parents are families,” Marissa added. “Companies should recognize that children and families always come before career and that flexibility may be required when life gets hard. That’s compassion.”
Over the last several days, if you’ve been on social media, you’ve likely seen a video or five about a company called Kyte Baby.
The baby brand went viral after one of its employees, Marissa, spoke out about how she was treated by the company when her child was admitted into the NICU.
According to reports, Marissa was in the process of adopting her child when the child was born very prematurely at 22 weeks. Marissa had to rush to a NICU hours away from her home to be with her baby.
Judah, as they now call their son, was born weighing barely one pound and in a Texas town 9 hours away from their own.
On January 3, the parents offered an update, writing that their son “is now 27 weeks + 6 days and as stable as he can be, given the circumstances. However, he is still so so fragile and there are various health concerns. Please pray for healing within his body and wisdom for his medical team. We need a miracle in this area.”
@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 ????
After notifying Kyte Baby that she would need to work remotely while she was with her child in the hospital, the company demanded that she return to the office. If she didn’t, they threatened that her position at the company would be terminated.
@thecliffnotesgal Replying to @julesmenzyk #kytebaby #kytebabydrama #adoption #thepoint #tldr #cliffnotesgal ♬ original sound – TheCliffnotesGal
After sharing her story publicly, fellow moms showed their support for the new mom. Even if Marissa didn’t yet qualify for FMLA, fellow parents believed Kyte Baby should have shown more support, regardless, and publicly voiced their disgust for Kyte Baby and called for a boycott.
Now, the owner of Kyte Baby, Ying Liu, is speaking out. And her first public apology was not well received.
@kytebaby ♬ original sound – kytebaby
People called her out for scripting her response and reading it verbatim for the camera. She then addressed the public again, taking full responsibility for her decision to not support the moms working for her company, especially being a top baby brand.
You can listen to her second apology below:
@kytebaby ♬ original sound – kytebaby
In the video, Liu admitted it was her decision to threaten Marissa with termination and promised to give her company’s parental leave an overhaul as a result of this mistake.
“[I] was only focused on the fact that her job has always been done on-site and I did not see the possibility of doing it remotely. I cannot imagine the stress she had to go through not having the option to go back to work and having to deal with a newborn in the NICU. Thinking back, it was really a terrible mistake. I own 100% of that.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help with Judah’s medical expenses. You can donate here, if you wish.