Every day when Xiao Huang and her colleagues leave work from a
Watsons chain store in Beijing's Yansha Shopping Mall, they are
submitted to a search at the door by a security guard who examines
their bags. While this may seem like a reasonable security
precaution, when it is revealed that the procedure is repeated
whenever they go to the restroom, the problem comes into sharper
focus.
This rule is part of an agreement signed by all Watsons
employees to prevent theft from Watsons stores in China. Beijing
Times exposed the method upon hearing of complaints from
Watsons staff, sparking a wide debate.
As the world's third largest healthcare and beauty products
retail group and China's largest, Watsons has more than 200 stores
in China and in total employs over 5,000 people.?
Speaking to the Beijing Times, Xiao Hong, who has worked
for months in a Watsons store in Beijing Oriental Plaza, speaks of
her discontent. "It is embarrassing for female stuff to be
inspected by male guards." However, she has little choice in the
matter since she signed the theft-prevention agreement.
Another staff member, Xiao Lan, gave her candid opinion: "It is
hard to accept at the beginning but you get used to it. But it is
still an encroachment on one's privacy."
A Watsons store manager said that the searches were carried out
with the full cooperation and free will of the employees, as laid
down in the agreement.
Nearly?a month after the Beijing Times broke the
story, China Youth Daily picked up the scent,
interviewing staff at the Watsons store in Beijing Yansha
Shopping Mall where Xiao Huang works.
Faced with the press, Xiao Li refused to comment widely, simply
stating: "We are doing this out of our own will and I think we
should do this." As most employees turned down interviews, one
staff member told China Youth Daily that employees were
under instruction not to cooperate with the press.
Amidst media reports that the checks have created friction
between staff, security guard Xiao Liu denies this. "Although the
checks are strict, all staff members are cooperative. We are all
friends and are doing this for the company. This does not affect
our relations. Every company must take security measures and no one
has so far been caught stealing from this store."
However, this practice has been condemned by experts.
"This is a very ill-advised practice," said a labor law expert
who refused to give his name. "Watsons' practice has violated equal
employment principles as laid down in the Labor Law and is carrying
out a form of discrimination. Watsons is thus in breach of the
law." He further added that should the case be?proved illegal,
employees would have a legal recourse to sue Watsons.
"Watsons has impinged upon its employees' privacy," said Yang
Xiaojun, deputy director of the Law Department, China National
School of Administration. "Belongings in employees' bags and
pockets are of a personal nature and can only be searched upon
authority from the state. No other corpus has the right to carry
out these checks without legal authorization."
"According to the Criminal Law, illegally searching the body or
house of any other person, or illegally intruding upon?the
house of any other person?carries a jail sentence of up to 3
years," Yang specified.
He also dismissed the theft-prevention agreement as invalid
since the two parties were not on an equal footing when it?was
signed, thus rendering it unable to reflect employees' will.
Names have been changed to respect the privacy of
employees.
(China.org.cn by Yuan Fang, May 24, 2007)
