Alibaba fires director accused of sexual assault; CEO calls for change

GUANGZHOU, China – Alibaba has fired an official accused of sexual assault and sanctioned other employees as the Chinese e-commerce giant seeks to limit the damage to its reputation.

Over the weekend, an employee wrote an article on Alibaba’s intranet accusing her supervisor Wang Chengwen and a company customer of sexual assault. The allegations went viral when the post was later shared on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform.

The woman alleges that Wang forced her to drink excessively at a business dinner in Jinan one evening in late July. She said she woke up naked the next morning in her bed in her hotel room. The employee said she vaguely remembered Wang kissing and touching her the night before in her room.

The manager admitted to having “intimate acts” with a drunken employee, according to a letter sent to employees by Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang. The note adds that the dismissed manager “will never be rehired”.

“Whether he committed rape or an act of indecency that violates the law will be determined by law enforcement,” the memo said.

While Jinan police are still investigating the incident, Alibaba said it decided to penalize the manager and other staff after “obtaining clarification on some critical facts regarding the handling of the incident.”

The employee said she reported the incident to Alibaba and called for Wang’s dismissal, but no immediate action was taken.

Alibaba said two employees had resigned: Li Yonghe, the head of a business unit that includes Alibaba’s food delivery business, alongside the division’s head of human resources, Xu Kun.

“When the employee reported a horrific act such as rape, he failed to make timely decisions or take appropriate action,” Zhang said in the note.

Alibaba’s chief human resources officer, Judy Tong, will be given a demerit. Zhang criticized HR, saying they “don’t pay enough attention and care to our people.”

“At the same time, an emergency response system was missing and a serious error in judgment was made. In the event of a criminal investigation, they did not suspend the parties concerned. This indicates a problem in our culture and our capacity building. Given this systemic problem, leaders must be held accountable, ”he said.

A company spokesperson said in a statement, “The 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.”

Zhang called the incident “shameful” and said the company must “rebuild” and “change”.

The CEO said Alibaba will now conduct company-wide training on protecting employee rights, including sexual harassment. The company will also “accelerate the formation of an anti-sexual harassment policy”.

While police are still investigating the incident, Zhang said the company was “strongly opposed to the ugly culture of forced consumption.”

“Regardless of gender, whether it is a request made by a client or a supervisor, our employees have the authority to reject it,” he wrote in the memo.

Alibaba shares in Hong Kong fell 2.5% in afternoon trading as news increased pressure on a company that is still under regulatory control after a $ 2.8 billion antitrust fine dollars earlier this year.

The Chinese MeToo movement has not taken off like it has in the United States and other parts of the world. But it has started to gain momentum more recently after Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu was charged with rape and detained by police in Beijing. He denied the allegations.