Ivanka Trump has vocally embraced pro-family corporate policies while stumping for her father on the campaign trail, but the company that designs her own clothing line offers no paid maternity leave.
A fashion designer for the G-III Apparel Group told the Washington Post in a piece published Monday that she received 12 weeks of unpaid leave when she became pregnant in 2015.
“It’s hard enough emotionally to come back to work right after having a baby,” the unnamed designer, who said she is a registered Republican and worked for G-III for four years, told the newspaper. “But to know you’re returning to a company that doesn’t value your choice to be a mother makes it harder.”
Five other past and current employees of G-III confirmed to the Post that the company offers 12 weeks of unpaid leave after one year of employment—the legal minimum for companies with over 50 workers.
G-III did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment. A spokesperson for the Ivanka Trump brand, her 12-employee company, told the newspaper that new mothers at that business receive eight weeks of paid leave.
G-III received the rights to design and distribute Ivanka Trump’s clothing line, including her dresses, suits and jeans, in 2012. She remains highly involved in the day-to-day production of the attire produced under her name.
Trump’s daughter has created a fashion and personal-lifestyle empire based around her dual identity as a working mother. In addition to her fashion line, she serves as a vice president of the Trump Organization and wrote a book titled “Women Who Work.”
She earned accolades for the progressive-sounding policies, including equal pay for women and paid parental leave, that she promoted from the stage at the Republican National Convention in July, promising that her father would support them as president.
“Policies that allow women with children to thrive should not be novelties,” she said at the convention. “They should be the norm.”
