Alibaba suspends staff over sexual assault allegation

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Signage is seen at Alibaba Group Headquarters during the 11/11 Singles Day Global Shopping Festival in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China November 11, 2020 Reuters

Late on Saturday, an Alibaba employee’s account of an incident she said occurred while on a business trip went viral on Chinese social media, with responses to her account appearing among the articles hottest on Weibo Sunday morning.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said on Sunday it had suspended several employees following allegations by an employee on the company’s intranet that she was sexually assaulted by her boss and a client.

The woman’s account, published via an eleven-page PDF that then circulated widely online, caused a social media storm on China’s Twitter-like microblogging website Weibo. Jinan City police said Sunday morning that they were investigating the incident.

“Alibaba Group has a zero tolerance policy against sexual misconduct, and ensuring a safe workplace for all of our employees is Alibaba’s top priority,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“We have suspended relevant parties suspected of violating our policies and values, and set up a special internal task force to investigate the issue and support the ongoing police investigation.”

Late on Saturday, an Alibaba employee’s account of an incident she said occurred while on a business trip went viral on Chinese social media, with responses to her account appearing among the articles hottest on Weibo Sunday morning.

The woman, who did not reveal her identity, claimed that her boss forced her to go on a business trip with him to meet one of his team’s clients in Jinan City, about 900 kilometers away. (560 miles) from Alibaba headquarters in Hangzhou.

According to the woman, on the evening of July 27, the client kissed her. After consuming alcohol, she woke up in a hotel room the next day with no clothes on and no memory of what happened the day before.

CCTV footage she obtained from the hotel showed her boss entered the room four times during the evening, she added.

Upon returning to Hangzhou, she said she reported the incident to human resources and senior management on August 2, asking her boss to be fired and time off. While HR initially agreed, they ultimately did not follow through, she said.

Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang responded to the outcry on the company’s internal bulletin board Saturday night, according to a person who saw the post, although the company has not officially disclosed the content posted on its intranet.

“It’s not just human resources who should apologize. The heads of the relevant business departments are also responsible and should apologize for their silence and inability to respond in a timely manner,” Zhang wrote.

“Starting with me, starting with management, starting with human resources, everyone at Alibaba needs to empathize, think and act.”

Read also – OP-ED: Alibaba fined for violating anti-monopoly law

Alibaba announced on its intranet that the woman’s supervisor, her human resources contact and direct management of those people had been suspended, according to the person who saw the messages.

Another sex scandal rocked China last month when Chinese-Canadian pop singer Kris Wu was publicly accused by an 18-year-old Chinese student of instigating her and other girls, some under the age of 18. 18 years old, having sex with him.

The incident reignited talks about the #MeToo movement in China, and Beijing police subsequently arrested Wu, who denied the allegations.

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