The Supreme Court has sought a reply from soft drinks giant Coca-Cola on a petition filed by a former employee alleging harassment and gender discrimination by her seniors.
A bench headed by Justice B N Agarwal issued notice to the US-based Coca-Cola Company and its Indian subsidiary Coca-Cola India on a petition filed by one Payal Chawla Singh, who was working as assistant legal counsel in the company.
Chawla alleged that she was harassed at workplace by her seniors during her pregnancy, deliberately downgrading her performance without any reason and favouring her male colleagues and ultimately coercing her to leave her job.
"The applicant during her employment with the respondents (Coca-Cola India) was grossly discriminated against on account of her gender, harassed, retaliated against for making a complaint and was coerced into leaving her gainful employment with the respondents and further she has been even pursued at her new workplace maliciously forcing the applicant to resign again," the petition filed through counsel Vikas Mehta stated.
Through her counsel, Chawla had sought appointment of a sole arbitrator to adjudicate claims and damages as per the new solutions programme, under company policy. She has also sought unconditional apology from the company.
According to her, the company's contention that the arbitration agreement was only confined to the US company and not to the Indian subsidiary was baseless and misconceived.
Payal in her petition contended that she was employed by Coca-Cola India in October 1995 as assistant legal counsel and remained in its employment till July 2004.
She stated that the problems started in 1999 after she disclosed about her pregnancy and claimed that stress at the workplace caused 'pre-eclampsia', a serious pregnancy condition.