
Alibaba, a major Chinese IT company, announced on August 9 (local time) that it would fire its manager for sexually assaulting a drunken subordinate. CEO Daniel Chang said it was “shameful” and that he was firmly opposed to the forced drinking culture.
In August 2021, a female Alibaba employee posted on Weibo that she had been sexually assaulted by her boss and customer. The woman claimed that she was forced to drink by her boss at a business party held in late July and woke up naked in her hotel bed the next morning, claiming that she vaguely remembers kissing or touching her the day before.
According to a message sent to the company by CEO Daniel Chang after this post was posted, the male manager admitted that he had an intimate (?) behavior toward a drunken female employee. Alibaba issued a disciplinary dismissal, saying it would never re-employ the man.
In addition, when a woman reported an incident, CEO Daniel Chang took issue with the woman in charge of not making a timely decision and not taking appropriate action, and punished the chief human resources officer for not paying enough attention and consideration to the employee. The incident led to the resignation of Alibaba’s business manager and human resources manager.
Alibaba said it has a zero-tolerance policing against sexual misconduct and that ensuring a safe workplace for all employees is a top priority. CEO Daniel Zhang said it was “shameful” about the incident and that the company needed to be restructured and changed, and that it would conduct company-wide training on protection of employee rights, including prevention of sexual harassment. Related information can be found here.
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