Levi's executive resigns, says company pushed her out for vocally opposing covid rules in schools


Levi's brand president quit, saying she turned down $1 million severance package to keep speaking out against COVID school closures

The president of the Levi's brand resigned Sunday, saying that she was pushed out of the company for being outspokenly critical of covid restrictions in schools.

Jennifer Sey, who had been the president of the Levi's brand at Levi Strauss and Co. since 2020, said in a blog post that she resigned "to keep my voice."

Sey had been vocal about her opinions that "draconian policies" closing schools "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."

In San Francisco, where the company is based, Sey was part of a group of parents opposed to school closures, and she said she attended meetings with the office of Democratic Mayor London Breed and organized rallies against the policies. She moved her family to Denver - a city that is led by Democrats but has had less strict coronavirus rules than many other major U.S. cities - "so that my kindergartner could finally experience real school."

She told the story of her family's move to a news station in the Bay Area and discussed it during an appearance on a Fox News show hosted by Laura Ingraham, who has been known to spread misinformation about the coronavirus. That 2021 appearance was the "last straw" for Levi's, Sey said. Leaders, including the company's chief executive, Chip Bergh, had for months urged her to stop talking about the issue, and the dispute bled into an executive meeting where Sey said Bergh remarked that she was "acting like Donald Trump."

Within the past month, she said, Bergh told her it was "untenable" for her to remain at the company. In the fall, she said, Bergh had told her she was "on track" to take his place, so long as she ceased talking about coronavirus policies in schools. Sey said she turned down a $1 million severance package, which she said would have included a nondisclosure agreement precluding her from speaking "about why I'd been pushed out."

Levi Strauss and Co. did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Coronavirus policies in schools have been a nationwide flash point throughout the pandemic. While severe illness from covid-19 among children is rare, experts say, some severe cases and deaths have been reported. At the same time, some health experts have raised concerns that school closures and mask mandates could do more harm than good for children.

Earlier this month, the Democratic governors of four states announced they would soon lift mask requirements for schools, reflecting a nationwide shift away from restrictions as coronavirus cases fall and pressure for a return to normalcy rises.

Although many U.S. schools closed in earlier waves of the pandemic, most districts remained open for in-person learning throughout the omicron variant's winter spike, mindful of the damage that remote education inflicted last year and determined to avoid a repeat. Still, fights continued among politicians, administrators, teachers and parents.

Amid the omicron surge, New York Democratic Mayor Eric Adams said of the students in the nation's largest school district: "The safest place for our children is a school building. And we are going to keep our schools open and ensure that our children are safe in a safe environment."

Sey published her essay in a newsletter, "Common Sense," hosted by Bari Weiss, a former opinion writer for the New York Times. Weiss - known for her right-leaning takes that often garnered controversy, including a piece praising cultural appropriation - resigned from the paper in the summer of 2020 after she said leftist critics on Twitter and within the paper had pushed her out.

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