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Wig Firm Owner Admits Body Searches
The South Korean owner of a Shenzhen wig factory yesterday admitted that a body search of female staff suspected of stealing wig material had taken place.
He said the factory conducted a 15 minute-long search on the bodies of 51 instead of 56 members of staff.
"We touched their bodies, but we didn't search over all of the 56 female employees," said Lee Hong-guang, a Korean executive manager of the factory, Bao Yang Industrial.
Lee said there are five team leaders among the 56 employees and the factory did not conduct body searches on them.
"They were willing to accept the searches and we didn't take off their clothes and trousers," Lee said.
Lee said the whole process, including clearing up the workshop, lasted for 70 minutes and the body searches took just 15 minutes.
The female employees have already taken legal action against the factory following claims they were subjected to coercive body searches and Shenzhen's Kengzi Court has accepted the case.
Bao Yang Industrial said it wanted the offended women to drop the appeal and seek a solution outside court.
The court has chosen not to demand legal costs of 100 yuan £šUS$12£© from the employees at present because of their financial difficulty.
And the court said it was likely to write off the costs as a kind of legal aid for women victims.
The employees have demanded the factory pay 30,000 yuan £šUS$3,600£© to each of them in compensation and make a public apology.
Lee said his factory has already made a public apology to the employees but insisted the compensation demands were too high.
"Now we want the local government, employer and employees to sit together and find a final solution through negotiation," Lee said.
But the 56 employees said they are determined not to drop the charge, and legal action is the only solution, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.
Lee refused to provide any contact numbers or addresses of the 56 female employees when telephoned for interview and other high-level staff were also unavailable because they were holding an "important" meeting yesterday.
Sources: China Daily
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