Top Levi’s executive quits so she can continue fighting COVID school closures, she says

A top Levi Strauss & Co. executive says she’s leaving her job to continue her battle against school shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In an essay on Common Sense, Jennifer Sey said she quit her job as brand president after other company executives told her to stop advocating against school closures.

“I’ll always wear my old 501s,” Sey wrote. “But today I’m trading in my job at Levi’s. In return, I get to keep my voice.”

In a statement, the company confirmed Sey had left her position, MarketWatch reported. A search for a new brand president has begun.

Sey, a mother of four children, said in her essay that she argued that “draconian policies would cause the most harm to those least at risk” as schools closed to curb the spread of COVID-19.

She moved her family from California to Colorado, where some schools remained open, and spoke out via television, newspapers, rallies and social media, angering Levi’s executives.

“While they didn’t try to muzzle me outright, I was told repeatedly to ‘think about what I was saying,’” Sey wrote. She said she was asked to do an “apology tour” and once was compared to former President Donald Trump in a meeting.

Sey wrote that she turned down a $1 million severance package because she would have had to agree not to criticize the company.

This story was originally published February 15, 2022 at 12:56 PM with the headline "Top Levi’s executive quits so she can continue fighting COVID school closures, she says."