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Body Search Litigation Closed
A legal battle over claims of illegal body searches at a wig factory in Shenzhen City of south China's Guangdong Province was concluded after a settlement was reached.
Both the wig factory, which is financed by an investor from the Republic of Korea (ROK), and its 56 female employees unexpectedly agreed to reach a settlement to resolve the lawsuit about the incident which occurred at the end of July, said local sources.
During the second hearing on Saturday, lawyers on both sides carried out a heated debate on the details of the July 30 incident, and admitted the factory did conduct a body search on its workers.
According to court sources, the debate revolved around the actual degree of infringement and whether compensation was reasonable.
Four of the 56 plaintiffs retold their story at the court, insisting they had been subjected to rough, full body checks for 70 minutes.
However, 11 witnesses for the Defence, also participants of the body search, told a different version of the incident and believed their colleagues had exaggerated the truth.
Zhou Litai, the attorney for the plaintiff, reached reconciliation with the ROK-run factory after the third-round debate.
Female workers said that the lawyer had not discussed the decision with them in advance. They now had no choice but to sign their names on the conciliation paper.
Zhou did not explain the reason but told the workers: "We have achieved the aim of telling the truth to society and filing a lawsuit against the factory. In fact, our action is more than simply a lawsuit."
Before the hearing, the factory tried to make an out-of-court settlement to resolve the dispute. It promised a compensation of 4,000 yuan (about 481.9 U.S. dollars) to each worker and said they could still work in the factory.
But all the female employees rejected it and insisted the factory pay 32,000 yuan (3,855 U.S. dollars) each and issue a public apology.
No one at the factory could be contacted for comment.
"The settlement will help resolve the case in an efficient and fair way," said a solicitor for the defendant.
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