Levi's model President Jennifer Sey mentioned on Monday that the corporate pushed her out due to her public feedback towards COVID-19 faculty closures and masks mandates.

Sey, 52, made the claims in Bari Weiss' Substack channel Frequent Sense, writing she turned down the corporate's provide of a $1 million severance bundle as a result of she did not wish to signal a nondisclosure settlement.

"The cash could be very good. However I simply cannot do it. Sorry, Levi's," Sey wrote in an essay revealed on the positioning.

Faculty shutdowns and masks mandates have develop into polarizing points, and Sey mentioned Levi's didn't need her making public statements on the issues. Nonetheless, by her personal admission, she repeatedly expressed her views in op-eds and through appearances on information applications, in addition to by organizing rallies and posting on social media.

The end result was her being "condemned for talking out," she mentioned.

Previous to her time with the corporate, Sey was a celebrated gymnast, turning into the U.S. Girls's All-Round nationwide champion in 1986. She additionally co-produced the 2020 documentary Athlete A, which detailed allegations that Dr. Larry Nassar sexually abused younger feminine gymnasts.

Jennifer Sey
Levi Strass & Co International CMO Jennifer Sey attends the Cannes Lions Competition 2018 on June 21, 2018 in Cannes, France. Getty

Sey additionally had lengthy been a fan of Levi denims, she wrote on Frequent Sense.

"I beloved carrying Levi's; I would worn them so long as I may keep in mind. However for those who had informed me again then that I would in the future develop into the president of the model, I'd've by no means believed you," she wrote. "In the event you informed me that after reaching all that, after spending nearly my complete profession at one firm, that I'd resign from it, I would assume you have been actually loopy."

Sey labored her means up at Levi Strauss & Co. after beginning as an assistant advertising and marketing supervisor in 1999. She mentioned, "[t]he firm has been essentially the most constant factor in my life" till just lately.

Issues modified went COVID hit, she wrote. A mom of 4, Sey questioned the hurt that would befall youngsters from colleges being closed. Quickly, she mentioned, firm representatives tried to silence her.

Sey claimed Levi's head of company communications was the primary to strategy her and mentioned: " while you converse, you converse on behalf of the corporate."

Sey mentioned she responded by noting her job title was not listed in her Twitter bio. As an alternative, she was "talking as a public faculty mother of 4 children."

The previous Levi's government shared her essay and choice to go away the corporate in a Monday submit on Twitter.

Different firm workers quickly tried to get her to cease with the general public feedback, she mentioned, together with representatives from the Levi's authorized division and human sources.

Ultimately, she claimed, the CEO of the corporate tried to cease her, cautiously warning her at first after which giving extra frank ideas. (Although he isn't named in Sey's Frequent Sense essay, Charles "Chip" Bergh has been president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co. since 2011.)

Extra consideration got here Sey's means when she appeared on Laura Ingraham's present on Fox Information. Sey mentioned it was "the final straw" for co-workers who opposed her stance on the varsity points.

"The feedback from Levi's workers picked up—about me being anti-science; about me being anti-fat [I'd retweeted a study showing a correlation between obesity and poor health outcomes]; about me being anti-trans [I'd tweeted that we shouldn't ditch Mother's Day for Birthing People's Day because it left out adoptive and step moms]; and about me being racist, as a result of San Francisco's public faculty system was stuffed with black and brown children, and, apparently, I did not care in the event that they died," Sey wrote.

Within the fall of 2021, she mentioned that in a dinner with the CEO, she was informed she was "on observe" to interchange him as the top of the corporate. However "[t]he solely factor standing in my means, he mentioned, was me. All I needed to do was cease speaking concerning the faculty factor."

Issues got here to a head final month, in response to Sey, when the CEO informed her it will be "untenable" for her to remain and supplied her a $1 million severance bundle. She mentioned "a nondisclosure settlement about why I would been pushed out" would have been included with the deal.

"I will at all times put on my outdated 501s," she wrote. "However at present I am buying and selling in my job at Levi's. In return, I get to maintain my voice."

When contacted by Newsweek for touch upon Monday, Levi Strauss & Co. acknowledged Sey's departure with out addressing the claims she made in her essay.

Replace 02/14/22, 3:04 p.m. ET:This story has been up to date to acknowledge Levi Strauss & Co. responded to Newsweek.