Alibaba dismisses woman employee who accused former co-worker of sexual assault
‘I have not made any mistakes, and certainly will not accept this result’
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Your support makes all the difference.China’s e-commerce giant Alibaba has fired a woman employee who alleged that a colleague and a client sexually assaulted her during a business trip earlier this year.
The employee’s termination letter stated she had spread false information that damaged the company’s reputation, she said in an interview to the state-run newspaper Dahe Daily that also published the letter, according to several media reports.
She said she was sacked in the end of November when she received the formal notification of termination.
The letter said she was being terminated because she spread falsehood about being assaulted and about the company’s handling of the case which “caused strong social concern and had a bad impact on the company”.
Pushing back, the woman told the newspaper: “I have not made any mistakes, and certainly will not accept this result, and in the future will use legal means to protect my rights and interests”.
The employee of the country’s largest e-commerce company went public with her allegations in August after she posted her account on China’s social media platform Weibo and accused the company of not taking appropriate action.
In a 11-page document, she shared the details of the incident, alleging her manager raped her during a business trip in Jinan city, after taking advantage of her inebriated condition.
The woman alleged she was inebriated after a “drunken night” when her manager raped her in a hotel room. She alleged she was ordered to drink alcohol by her superiors during dinner. The former employee also accused a client at the meeting also forcibly kissed her.
She claimed Alibaba’s senior management and human resources did not take her report seriously. Her accusations triggered a public backlash, forcing the e-commerce giant to fire the manager, and suspend other employees.
Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment outside of working hours. The lawyer of the employee also did not immediately respond to the request for comment, reported Reuters.
A court in China had dropped the case against the accused manager in September after determining he committed "forcible indecency” on an employee, but not a crime.
The broad term “forcible indecency” includes sexual assault, but does not constitute a crime under China’s laws.
In response to the decision by prosecutors, Alibaba said it has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct.
“Alibaba Group has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct, and ensuring a safe workplace for all our employees is Alibaba’s top priority,” a company spokesperson said in a statement to Bloomberg.
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