Xiamen Bank Responds to Allegations by Beijing Yirenping Center of Hepatitis B Discrimination

Xiamen Bank responds to allegations by Beijing Yirenping Center of hepatitis B discrimination of job applicants

On 31 December 2010 Global Times carried an article, “ Bank accused of discriminating against hepatitis B carriers”, which reported that Beijing Yirenping Center had accused Xiamen Bank of forcing job applicants to take a hepatitis B test. On 8 February 2011 Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited Xiamen Bank to respond.

Xiamen Bank sent Business & Human Rights Resource Centre the following response in Chinese [translation provided by the Resource Centre]:

14 February 2011

情况说明

做为地方金融机构，厦门银行一直坚持守法经营的原则，严格按照相关法律、法规、规定开展各项工作。相关保护乙肝病毒携带者就业权的规定出台以来，我行未发生因携带乙肝病毒而拒绝符合录用条件的员工（新录用的 2011届应届毕业生中就有个别人员属乙肝病毒携带者）。

Explanation of the situation

As a local financial institution, Xiamen Bank is a law abiding business that insists on strict adherence to relevant laws, rules, and regulations in conducting our work. With regards to the protection of hepatitis B virus carriers, since the introduction of the employee rights provisions, the Bank has not rejected any employment candidates due to hepatitis B virus carrier status. (The newly recruited of 2011 graduates include individual officers that are hepatitis B virus carriers.)

有关本行在向拟录用 2011届应届学生发出的录用通知书中含有要求学生健康体检应包括乙肝项目检测之事，系因工作失误造成。相关情况说明如下：

With regards to the incident in which the Bank required 2011 graduates to undergo a physical examination that includes screening for hepatitis B., this is due to errors. This can be explained as follows:

作为我行招聘责任单位的人力资源部，同时担负着全行的薪酬福利、绩效考核、人员招聘、员工管理等所有人力资源管理工作。自 2008年财务重组后，我行处于快速扩张阶段

1 全行工作量剧增，人手较为紧张。目前，该部门仅配备工作人员5人（含部门负责人），其中专职负责人员招聘 1名。2010年 11月末，因内部管理需要，在应届毕业生招聘期间，原负责人员招聘的员工临时岗位调整并调离人力资源部，招聘工作也因此中途移交给新调入的同事。 Human Resources is responsible for all recruitment matters; it also must manage related tasks, such as salaries and benefits, performance evaluation, and staff management. After financial restructuring in 2008, the Bank went through a phase of rapid expansion that produced a dramatic increase in the workload of this department. Currently, the department is staffed with only five people (including the department head), and one staff person is responsible for hiring. At the end of November 2010, due to internal considerations by management, this staff person was transferred to another unit, and his work was taken over by a new colleague.

由于人力资源部年底工作繁忙，应届毕业生的招聘工作量大又繁琐 (，新手岗前培训不到位、交接不完整，工作人员在给被录用应届毕业生所发的录用确认函，没有使用按相关规定制订的录用通知格式，而是在多年以前的旧版本的基础上作简单的调整就通过电子邮件发给学生。 Human Resources was busy at the end of last year, having received many applications from new graduates. The training of the new recruiting officer was insufficient and incomplete. The officer failed to use the new form developed with the new regulations, and instead the old form was sent to job candidates with simple adjustments.

本次工作失误，不仅给学生就业造成困扰，也对我行的社会形象造成不良影响，对我行教训十分深刻。针对这次失误，我们立即对内部流程进行整改，并采取相应的补救措施： 1、立即向被录用员工重新发放录用通知函并作情况说明，消除学生疑虑； 2、加强员工岗前培训，提高员工法律意识、专业知识及技能； 3、加强人员配备，并开展内部工作检查，加强工作监督、复核工作，杜绝类似问题再次发生。以上说明。

These errors caused distress to the job candidate and adversely impacted the image of our bank. We have learned a profound lesson. We have taken the following measures to rectify the situation1. 1. Immediately send out the correct form letter for employment notification to address the concerns of the new recruits; 2. Strengthen staff training, improve staff awareness of the law, and equip staff with professional knowledge and skills; 3. Improve staffing procedures, undertake internal monitoring, and improve supervision and staff reviews to prevent similar problems from arising again.

2 厦门银行股份有限公司 Xiamen Bank