Levi's executive says she was forced to quit after speaking out against COVID school closures
Jennifer Sey says she quit as the president of Levi's after refusing to stop speaking on COVID's impact on school closures.
SAN FRANCISCO - Levi's president Jennifer Sey said she was forced out of her tenure at the company and forced to quit after speaking out publicly against school closures brought on by COVID.
Sey said she even gave up a $1 million severance package in order to keep speaking openly about a matter she feels strongly about.
Sey, who served as brand president for the apparel company, wrote in Bari Weiss’s "Common Sense" Substack Monday that Levi's CEO Charles Bergh informed her in recent weeks that it was "untenable" for her to remain with the company. Sey had worked for the company for more than two decades.
"I was offered a $1 million severance package, but I knew I’d have to sign a nondisclosure agreement about why I’d been pushed out. The money would be very nice. But I just can’t do it. Sorry, Levi’s." she said in the post.
Sey, a mother of four, explained in the post that she had long been an advocate for children and that Levi's had always supported her in the past when she expressed other political views, but that all changed after Sey refused to stop speaking out against California shutting down public schools in the name of safety due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Early on in the pandemic, I publicly questioned whether schools had to be shut down. This didn’t seem at all controversial to me. I felt—and still do—that the draconian policies would cause the most harm to those least at risk, and the burden would fall heaviest on disadvantaged kids in public schools, who need the safety and routine of school the most," Sey wrote.
Sey and her family relocated from San Francisco to Colorado so her children could return to in-person learning. There she continued to speak out against the closures.
The former exec said the Levi's head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion asked her to go on an "apology tour," but she refused.
Sey said that that last fall, the company's CEO told her that she "was on track to become the next CEO of Levi's" and that "the only thing standing in my way, he said, was me. All I had to do was stop talking about the school thing."
In response to KTVU's request for comment on Sey's claims made in the post, Levi's said, "Today, Levi Strauss & Co. announced management changes affecting our executive leadership team. Seth Ellison, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer will assume responsibility as the Levi’s® brand president on an interim basis in addition to his commercial duties, replacing Jen Sey, who resigned from the company."
The company said it has started the search for Sey's replacement.