China's Alibaba fires manager accused of sexually assaulting employee as social media explodes

China's retail giant Alibaba has fired a manager who allegedly sexually assaulted a woman employee.

The company said it will establish policies to prevent sexual harassment. Alibaba said the manager has been fired and will never be rehired as a police investigation was launched into the incident.

"Alibaba Group has a zero-tolerance policy against sexual misconduct," the company asserted.

Earlier, a woman over the weekend had posted a long PDF document alleging she was sexually assaulted by her boss and a client. The post went viral on China's microblogging website Weibo as police took up the investigation in China's Jinan city.

Alibaba said it had "suspended relevant parties" for violating policies as the issue created a firestorm on China's social media. According to the woman, the client kissed her and after consuming alcohol she reportedly woke up the next day without her clothes and no memory of what had happened.

The woman alleged that her boss had forced her to go to Jinan on a business trip with him while revealing that CCTV footage she had got from the hotel showed her boss had entered the room four times in the evening.

The woman said that the HR department of the company did not fire her boss despite lodging a complaint after initially agreeing. Reports say Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang promised strong action asserting that "starting from me, starting from management, starting from human resources, everyone at Alibaba must empathize, reflect, and take action."

The company said it had placed the HR personnel including those related to the incident under suspension.

Earlier, China's superstar Kris Wu was detained over sexual assault allegations in a boost to #MeToo movement in the country. 

(With inputs from Agencies)