Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) has fired a senor manager accused of sexual assault and disciplined other employees as the company looks to limit its reputational damage.
Over the weekend, a female employee wrote a post on Alibaba’s intranet accusing her supervisor, Wang Chengwen, of sexual assault. The allegations went viral when the post was shared on Weibo, China’s Twitter-like social media platform.
The woman alleges that Wang forced her to drink excessively during a business dinner one evening in late July. She said she woke up the next morning naked in her bed in her hotel room. The employee said she vaguely remembers Wang kissing and touching her in her room.
The manager admitted to "intimate acts" with an inebriated female employee, according to a letter sent to employees by Alibaba Chief Executive Officer Daniel Zhang. The memo added the fired manager will "never be rehired."
While Chinese police are still investigating the incident, Alibaba said it decided to penalize the manager and other staffers after it "gained clarity on some critical facts on the handling of the incident."
Alibaba said two employees have resigned: Li Yonghe, the head of a business unit that includes Alibaba’s food delivery business, and the division’s human resources chief Xu Kun.
The company said in a written statement: "Alibaba Group has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct, and ensuring a safe workplace for all our employees is Alibaba’s top priority."
The company added that it will now conduct company-wide training on the protection of employee rights.
Alibaba shares in Hong Kong were down 2.5% in afternoon trading as the news piled more pressure onto a company that is still under regulatory scrutiny after a $2.8 billion U.S. antitrust fine earlier this year.
