Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴) has fired a woman who accused a manager of sexual assault, a surprise move that came just months after China’s e-commerce leader admitted bungling its initial response to the allegation.
The employee, surnamed Zhou (周), told the Dahe Daily that Alibaba had terminated her for spreading false information in August about being raped by a senior manager.
She did not receive any severance and was compensated up to the date of termination on Nov. 25, according to a screenshot of an official memo and an interview with Zhou published by the Chinese newspaper.
Photo: Reuters
Zhou’s termination caps a months-long scandal that played out across social media and ignited intense debate about the excessive drinking perpetuated by Chinese corporations and discrimination against women at tech firms.
The employee touched off a furor in August when she published an 8,000-word account accusing her manager and a client of sexual assault after an alcohol-fueled dinner during a work trip.
Her account — including a video of her handing out leaflets while shouting at the top of her voice in the company cafeteria — went viral and turned China’s No. 2 company into the highest-profile symbol of abuses regarded as prevalent throughout businesses and tech firms, the by-product of an environment that often prioritizes achievement over culture.
The Alibaba manager, surnamed Wang (王), was fired and two senior executives at the e-commerce giant resigned as Alibaba chief executive officer Daniel Zhang (張勇) called the company’s handling of the incident a “humiliation.”
Public debate around Zhou’s accusations has so far been freely allowed online, an unusual concession for a country that has fiercely censored previous #MeToo discourse, including tennis star Peng Shuai’s (彭帥) allegation she was coerced into sex by a senior government official.
Posts carrying the hashtag “Female Alibaba employee fired” had attracted more than 680 million views as of yesterday morning.
Zhou’s firing provoked a broad range of responses on social media over the weekend, with those decrying her termination vying against others who pointed to inconsistencies in her account that came to light during a police investigation.
“This was blown out of proportion and caused severe harm to Alibaba and society,” one post read. Others questioned Alibaba’s move.
“As an Internet giant, what Alibaba did was inconsiderate. Firing the woman caused new problems. Why didn’t Alibaba reflect on its own management flaws?” one person asked.
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