A female former intern claims she was treated unfairly after being sexually assaulted while working at Nio. The company issued a clarification, but it was challenged by the lady.
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Nio (NYSE: NIO) was a hot topic in China this weekend after a female former intern said she was sexually assaulted and subsequently treated unfairly during her time at the company.
A lady posted on Xiaohongshu, a Chinese social media platform, on the evening of March 3 that a co-worker sexually assaulted her during her first month at Nio.
Despite the failed rape attempt and the fact that the offender had been sentenced to prison, she suffered unfair treatment and was not retained by Nio, according to her posting.
Nio posted a clarification of the matter on Weibo on March 4, saying that the lady was a former intern at the company and it set up a task force to investigate the matter on the evening of March 3 at the first opportunity.
Former intern's complaints
In the first allegation posted by the lady, she said that during her first month at Nio, a male colleague somehow entered her room late at night and tried to rape her.
After two hours of her efforts, the man was unsuccessful and the incident was recorded by her.
She then called the police and the man was arrested at the scene. Due to the evidence, the man was quickly convicted and has been jailed.
She shared a court order showing that the man was sentenced to 10 months in prison.
The lady said that she was still working normally and with outstanding performance after the incident, and that she was involved in a product that was presented by William Li, the founder, chairman, and CEO of Nio, at Nio Day.
However, Nio told her it would not retain her, with a company human resources source saying "she was a risky person" and "would affect the company's image," according to her article.
The lady claims that in her first month alone, she became aware of three cases of sexual harassment, and some of the offenders are still with Nio today.
"Is this how Nio treats criminals?" the lady asked.
The article on the evening of March 3 quickly sparked a flood of criticism against Nio, although many details were missing, including her status as an intern and the timing of the incident.
Nio's response
On March 4, Nio released a statement on Weibo saying that the lady was a former intern and that the assailant was also a former intern.
The following is a full translation of Nio's response:
On the evening of March 3, a former Nio intern posted on social media that she had been sexually assaulted by a colleague. Although the assailant has been punished by the law, the victim said she was treated unfairly in the process of applying for conversion to a full-time employee because of this incident.
In response to this incident, Nio set up an investigation team as soon as possible on the night of March 3, and a full investigation into the incident has been started.
The facts that have been learned so far are that according to her report, on Saturday, August 6, 2022, an intern surnamed Xu attempted to rape her after asking her out.
The victim called the police and Mr. Xu was then taken into custody. On August 18, 2022, Mr. Xu was arrested. On August 19, the company terminated the internship relationship with Mr. Xu. The victim left the company on February 28 this year.
The victim posted last night that she was not retained by the company and was discriminated against as a result of the above incident. The investigation team is looking into her internship retention process and in particular whether she was treated unfairly in the process.
We are deeply sympathetic to the victim's experience last August and promise to give her a fair and impartial evaluation of her work.
Nio has zero tolerance for any criminal and sexual harassment, and will thoroughly investigate every reported incident we receive, and will deal firmly with any non-compliance found.
We also call for the respect and protection of women's rights at work and the resolute elimination of sexual harassment in the workplace.
Nio's statement was questioned
The lady posted a new article today, saying that Nio's response disappointed her.
Nio mentioned that her departure was on February 28, which is untrue information, the lady said, adding that she officially left on February 13.
Mr. Xu was the HR specialist in charge of new employee reception at Nio at the time. She went to the appointment only after being offered several times, according to the lady's latest article.
The lady joined Nio as an intern on July 27, 2022. The incident occurred on August 6, and the offender was officially arrested on August 17, according to the article.
On November 29, 2022, the lady had a final evaluation regarding conversion to a regular employee but was not retained, according to the article.
The lady said the feedback she received after several communications was that the company had headcounts and that her work performance was fine.
However, the HR team wanted to hire "low-risk" candidates and needed to maintain the company's PR image, according to her article.
In December 2022, the lady was responsible for a product presented by Li at Nio Day. Because patents were filed for the project during the preparation process, the lady left the company after the patent application process was completed, according to the article.
The lady made two demands on Nio:
1. Nio acknowledges the neglect and mishandling of sexual harassments in the workplace in the past, and apologizes for them.
2. To rectify the workplace culture and improve the company's anti-harassment policy.
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