Alibaba Group Holdings Ltd. fired a woman who accused a manager of sexual assault, an unexpected move months after the Chinese e-commerce leader admitted that his initial response to the allegations was wrong.
The employee surnamed Zhou told Dahe Daily that Alibaba fired her because she spread false information about being raped by a senior manager in August. According to screenshots of the official memo and the Central Newspaper’s interview with Zhou, she did not receive any severance pay and was compensated until November 25th.
Zhou’s dismissal ended a months-long scandal that circulated on social media and sparked a heated debate about Chinese companies’ chronic alcohol abuse and technology companies’ discrimination against women. The employee published an 8,000-word article in August, accusing her manager and a client of being sexually assaulted after a dinner using alcohol fuel during a work trip, which sparked an uproar.
Her account-including a video of her yelling and distributing flyers in the company cafeteria-went viral online, turning China’s second-largest company into the most high-profile symbol of abuse of power, and was considered to be a symbol of abuse of power throughout the company. Companies are ubiquitous in science and technology, a by-product of this environment that usually puts achievement above culture. Alibaba’s manager surnamed Wang was fired, and two senior executives of the e-commerce giant resigned as CEO, calling the company’s handling of the matter “humiliating.”
An Alibaba spokesperson did not respond to calls and emails seeking comment on the report. Zhou did not immediately comment.
So far, public debates about her allegations have been freely allowed online, which is an unusual concession for a country that has strictly censored previous #MeToo remarks, including tennis star Peng Shuai regarding her being taken by a senior government. Allegations of forced sex by officials. As of Monday morning, posts with the label “Alibaba female employee fired” have attracted more than 680 million page views.
Zhou’s dismissal caused widespread reactions on social media over the weekend. Those who condemned her dismissal competed with others, who pointed out that her account was found to be inconsistent during the police investigation.
Complete News Source : NDTV
