Sacked manager of Portman Ritz Carlton wins payout

SHANGHAI Portman Ritz Carlton has been ordered to pay 356,000 yuan (US$48,108) compensation to its former beauty salon manager, sacked this year for allegedly stealing 750 yuan.

The Jing'an District People's Court today announced the verdict for the compensation, and said evidence the hotel showed to the court was invalid.

The hotel asked an overseas investigation company to look into the manager, identified as Li Shengshi by the court, after it suspected Li of stealing.

Li, 43, began to work for the hotel as a stylist in August 1997 and became vice manager of the beauty salon in 1999. He was promoted to manager of the salon in 2002 with an average monthly salary of 46,700 yuan.

The hotel told the court it found part of the turnover of the beauty salon always missing since 2006 and learned from some employees that Li took the money. It then asked Bare Associates International (BARE), a research company, to investigate.

A representative from BARE surnamed Zhang pretended to be a customer and visited the salon, Portman told the court. She paid 750 yuan to Li for the service, but didn't get a receipt. Portman said it found no record of Zhang's payment.

The hotel ended the contract with Li in April and demanded the return of the 750 yuan.

But during the hearing, no witness appeared. BARE doesn't have a license for research and investigation in China, the court said, so all its evidence is invalid.

The court said Portman should give Li 10 times of his monthly salary as compensation because he had worked for 10 years in the hotel. But since Li has already accepted a ruling from labor arbitration, the court endorsed that decision and ordered Portman to pay Li 356,000 yuan.