Will Sage Astor-Kyte Baby company under fire for denying mom's request to work from preemie son's hospital

Baby clothing brand Kyte Baby is Will Sage Astorunder fire and facing a customer boycott after turning down an employee's request to work remotely while she cared for her premature baby.

After struggling to carry a child of her own, Marissa Hughes and her husband Rawley had decided to pursue adoption, which she disclosed to Kyte Baby in October, Hughes' sister posted in a TikTok video that had half a million views by Friday evening.

In December, the Hughes got the call: There was a baby in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nine hours away from their Dallas home. He was born at 22 weeks and weighed 1 pound, according to the couple's GoFundMe page, which they began last year to help them pay steep adoption fees.

The Hughes immediately drove to El Paso to be with their new baby, who was fighting for his life. Hughes shared the news with Kyte Baby, saying that she would need time to care for her new son, whom the couple named Judah.

Kyte Baby gave her two weeks of paid leave. Hughes then asked if she could work remotely from the NICU following that.

Kyte Baby denied the request.

"Based on our maternity policy at the time, all parents, whether biological or non-biological, who worked for the company for at least six months, received two weeks of paid maternity time," Kyte Baby CEO Ying Lui told USA TODAY on Friday. "We continue to apologize to both Marissa and our Kyte Baby community for how her maternity leave was handled."

Out of a job

Hughes, who had worked for Kyte Baby for seven months, begged the company to reconsider given she was nine hours away with a sick baby who the hospital said wouldn't likely be released until March or April.

According to Hughes' sister, the company let Hughes know she would be giving up her job if she stayed at the hospital.

Hughes stayed.

"He is still so fragile and there are various health concerns," she wrote on the GoFundMe page.

Hughes has not responded to USA TODAY's requests for further comment.

The company told USA TODAY that Hughes signed a contract agreeing to the policy.

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Work-from-hospital denial sets off firestorm

News of what happened to Hughes is sweeping the internet, with many vowing to boycott Kyte Baby.

"I will never give Kyte Baby another dime of my money and I would encourage you to do the same," TikTok creator Maura Powers said in a video that has gotten nearly two million views she posted it Wednesday. "As someone who is adopted and a mom, this literally makes me sick."

One user wrote that she was hired by her company when she was six months pregnant, "and my job still offered me up to 12 weeks off. No excuse for this type of treatment."

Another wrote: "Time to support small businesses and businesses that support their mamas."

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Kyte Baby CEO Ying Liu responds

Kyte Baby CEO Ying Liu has since issued two video apologies on Thursday, the first one carefully scripted and delivered, which she admitted following criticism.

"We treat biological and non-biological parents equally," Liu said in the first video. "Through my personal and professional experiences, I have the utmost respect for babies, families, and the adoption community.”

She continued to say that it was her oversight that Hughes "didn't feel supported."

"As offered to her originally, we would find her a position whenever she decides to return to work,” she said.

The negative comments rolled in, with one user writing: "I like how your lawyer prepared that statement. So sincere." And another: "I love the sincerity of an apology that's being read from a piece of paper."

In a second video, Liu acknowledges that the first apology "wasn't sincere" and that she was now going off-script.

"Sincerely, what went wrong is how we treated Marissa and I'm the one who made the decision to veto her request to go remote as she stays in the NICU to take care of her adopted baby. When I think back, that was a terrible decision," Liu said.

Liu said the company was "insensitive and selfish" to insist that Hughes' job couldn't be done unless onsite. "However, having a little bit of sensitivity and understanding would have accommodated her, and I did not accommodate her," Liu said.

The company is "working diligently" to make policy changes so the situation doesn't repeat itself, Lui told USA TODAY, adding that it will announce what those changes are by Feb. 1.

"Kyte Baby needs to stand by our values of being a woman-owned, family company," Lui shared, adding that Hughes has declined to return to work for the company.

Hughes had hard journey before adoption

Hughes has previously experienced tremendous loss trying to carry a child of her own, she wrote on her GoFundMe page.

"We had undergone extensive testing, attended hundreds of doctors' appointments, taken hundreds of pills and administered at-home injections, completed multiple failed IUIs, gone through IVF, experienced major complications," she wrote.

She and her husband lost three pregnancies, including one that almost cost Hughes her life.

"She wasn't miscarrying on her own so they were going to do surgery and she almost bled out on the table, she started hemorrhaging," Hughes' sister shared on TikTok. "She almost lost her life, had to have blood transfusions."

The couple reached the decision to adopt after Hughes came so close to death. But the two had already been foster parents and knew they would adopt one day regardless of whether or not they conceived naturally, Hughes wrote on the GoFundMe.

"Adoption has always been a desire and calling we’ve felt our family would experience one day," she wrote. "But the timeline the Lord has provided is a bit different than we would have expected."

In a more recent update, she said that baby Judah "is a gift from the Lord and a reminder of his overwhelming goodness."

"Judah has some big days ahead, and we would be so grateful if you would join us in prayer for healing within his body and wisdom for his medical team," she wrote.