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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)