Chief Executive of Lipton Teas and Infusions Nathalie Roos has said that the company is shocked and dismayed by allegations that the company’s management has been exploiting young women by demanding sex in exchange for work following a recent expose by BBC.
She said that the company immediately suspended the managers as soon as they came to learn about the revelations.
“We immediately suspended the managers at the centre of the allegations and launched a full independent investigation. We will take the most stringent action if this inquiry, which is still ongoing, finds any evidence of wrongdoing,” she stated.
“As a woman and a new CEO of the tea market leader, I am taking a determined approach to making a meaningful difference for people across the industry, including women’s safety, which is particularly close to my heart,” she added.
According to the expose, two UK tea manufacturers faced accusations of sexual abuse on tea plantations in the country.
About 100 women working on plantations producing tea for world-famous brands told BBC that their supervisors had sexually abused them.
The victims said they had no choice but to give in to their managers’ sexual demands or lose their jobs.
Some women fell pregnant while others contracted HIV.
One supervisor is accused of raping a 14-year-old girl who was living on site at one of the plantations.
Finlay in its part responded saying that it found the allegations “deeply shocking” and had suspended two individuals named in the documentary and launched an independent probe.
“There is no place for sexual abuse or harassment anywhere in our business, so this evidence of sexual exploitation at James Finlay Kenya is deeply shocking,” said Finlays Group managing director James Woodrow.