Pregnant employee assigned to a construction site

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China's social media has focused its latest outrage on the case of a woman who was assigned to work at a construction site after she had successfully sued her company for wanting to get rid of her.

The 36-year-old Chen Xin was working as an interior designer in northwest China's Jilin Province when she discovered she was pregnant. She told the good news to a colleague, but three days later, the company board advised her to submit her resignation. This came in July, four months after she had joined the company.

Chen's office desk before she discovered she was pregnant. /Photo via Hongxing News

Chen refused to resign for being pregnant, despite repeated pressure from the company.

The company then resorted to underhanded tactics, removing Chen's seat from the office and deleting all of her attendance records. Thoroughly angered and stunned, she filed a lawsuit against the company, claiming that the company was wrongfully terminating her for being pregnant.

Chinese labor law states that pregnant and nursing employees cannot be dismissed by employers. After a month of litigation, Chen won her case.

However, this victory proved to be empty, as she found shortly after returning to work that she had been assigned to a new position at a construction site. Her new office had no windows and the only heating came from a stove in the frigid weather.

Chen's new office had no windows and only a small stove for heating. /Photo via Hongxing News

"As an expectant mother of seven months, I need to use the restroom often. But it takes me 10 minutes to go to the restroom from the office, and there was no lamp in the corridor," Chen told Qianjiang Evening News. "The indoor temperature is less than 5 degrees (Celsius). I tried to complain about the situation to my company, but I didn't get any response.”

Chen then got a doctor's note from the hospital saying that she needed to stay home for two weeks due to deteriorating health.

Hospital note saying Chen needs to rest for two weeks. /Photo via Hongxing News

Employment law related to pregnancy and nursing has been a popular topic in China, especially after the second child policy was implemented. /VCG Photo

Chen's plight has raised the ire of many netizens on social media, with many siding with her or the company.

"Obviously, the company did not show any respect to its female employees," commented @W-Xiaozi10. "If they cannot accept any pregnant employee, the company should not recruit any female employee."

"Pregnant so soon after she became a full-time staff member? Such behavior is not worthy of sympathy!" said @ThundersMan.

"The enterprise must feel helpless when its employees get pregnant only three months after joining the company," said @Zhinigulaifeng.