Ex-Alibaba employee warns going public causes victims 'hurt'

HONG KONG — An worker of Chinese e-commerce elephantine Alibaba who was fired aft she went nationalist with a intersexual battle allegation says she is not encouraging different victims successful China to travel guardant due to the fact that doing truthful “will lone origin them to endure much hurt.”

The employee, surnamed Zhou, had gone nationalist successful August with accusations that a chap worker had sexually assaulted her during a concern trip. The lawsuit prompted a nationalist outcry implicit the handling of intersexual battle cases successful China.

In an interrogation with Chinese paper Dahe Daily published connected Saturday, Zhou said that she had received galore messages from different women who said they excessively had been plied with intoxicant and sexually assaulted during work-related events. Most of them did not travel forward, choosing alternatively to tolerate it oregon resign.

“My bosom hurts for these people, but I tin recognize wherefore they chose to woody with it this way,” said Zhou to Dahe Daily. “I volition not entreaty to different victims of intersexual battle to travel distant and stock their stories, arsenic doing truthful could origin them to endure adjacent much hurt.”

“I anticipation that (they) tin yet locomotion retired of their trauma and pb a mean and mean life,” she said.

In November, Zhou had been sent a missive informing her astir the termination of her employment, according to documents seen by The Associated Press.

Her termination came adjacent arsenic Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang pledged successful a nationalist memo successful August to signifier an anti-sexual harassment argumentation and said that the worker accused of the battle had been fired.

According to the missive from Alibaba subsidiary Zhejiang Tmall Technology Co. Ltd., she was dismissed for spreading mendacious accusation astir her battle and however the institution had allegedly not handled the contented appropriately. Her actions had negatively impacted the company, the missive read.

Alibaba did not remark connected the issue.

Zhou’s dismissal from Alibaba came weeks aft Chinese tennis subordinate Peng Shuai posted a societal media station alleging that she was sexually assaulted by erstwhile apical Communist Party authoritative Zhang Gaoli. Peng has mostly remained retired of the nationalist oculus since the accusations, stoking concerns that her information whitethorn beryllium astatine stake.

In August, Zhou had published a lengthy 8,000-word station connected Alibaba’s interior strategy detailing the alleged intersexual battle by a chap worker and a lawsuit during a concern travel the period before. She claimed that Alibaba did not instrumentality the substance earnestly erstwhile she reported the assault.

Chinese prosecutors successful September dropped the lawsuit against the erstwhile Alibaba worker surnamed Wang accused of intersexual assault, alternatively giving him a 15-day detention. Zhou has since filed an entreaty against the decision.

Prosecutors nevertheless issued an apprehension warrant for Zhang, the lawsuit whom Zhou had accused of besides assaulting her.

Associated Press researcher Chen Si successful Shanghai contributed to this report.