Levi's brand president quit, saying she turned down $1 million severance package to keep speaking out against COVID school closures
Christian Alminana/Getty Images for Cannes Lions
- Levi's Global Brand President Jennifer Sey quit on Monday following internal political clashes.
- Sey said she was on track to be CEO and rejected $1 million "in exchange for her voice."
- The exec has publicly advocated for keeping schools open throughout the pandemic.
Levi's Global Brand President Jennifer Sey has quit after 23 years at the company due to the hostile workplace reception of her COVID-19 views, according to a 1,700-word essay she published Monday morning.
Sey wrote that she quit and turned down a $1 million severance package "in exchange for her voice" after leadership told her that she was "on track" to be the next CEO if she reigned in her opinions on school closures.
The story was released in full by Bari Weiss' newsletter on Substack. Levi's Chief Commercial Officer Seth Ellison will temporarily replace Sey while they look to hire a replacement, a company spokesperson told Insider.
Sey has publicly advocated against school mask mandates and closures since the beginning of the pandemic. In addition to an outspoken Twitter presence, she has written multiple pp-eds, appeared on national cable news, and organized rallies to keep schools open.
"I publicly questioned whether schools had to be shut down. This didn't seem at all controversial to me," Sey wrote. "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."
—Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) July 31, 2021
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to consider in-person instruction a benefit to students, and recommends universal indoor masking for all students in K-12 schools.
According to Sey, her COVID opinions resulted in pushback from Levi board members, HR and legal, as well as from CEO Charles Bergh.
"While they didn't try to muzzle me outright, I was told repeatedly to 'think about what I was saying,'" she wrote, adding that her coworkers did not object to her public support of Elizabeth Warren in the Democratic primary.
The last straw, Sey said, was her appearance on Laura Ingraham's Fox News show in March. In a four-minute video, she shared her story about "losing hope" in California's school reopening, which caused her to relocate to Colorado.
Following its broadcast, Sey said Levi employees called her racist, anti-trans, anti-fat, and anti-science during company town halls.
"I like to think that many of my now-former colleagues know that this is wrong. I like to think that they stayed silent because they feared losing their standing at work or incurring the wrath of the mob," Sey wrote. "I hope, in time, they'll acknowledge as much."
Do you work at Levi Strauss & Co? Have a tip? Email this reporter at htowey@insider.com from a non-work email address.
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