SC to examine Coca Cola female employee's allegation on dismissal

New Delhi, Apr 17 (UNI) The Supreme Court has decided to examine the allegations of a Coca Cola female employee that she was forced to leave her job by the company after having been subjected to gender based harassment.

A bench headed by Justice B N Agarwal on Wednesday issued notices to Coca Cola India, which is the Indian subsidiary of the US based company.

Payal Chawla, in her petition, has prayed to the apex court to appoint an arbitrator in accordance with the company rules to ascertain the amount of damages and compensation she is entitled to get from the company for being coerced to leave the job.

She had joined the company in 1995 as assistant legal counsel and left the job in July 2004. According to her, when she joined another company she was not allowed to continue there also.

The trouble started in 1999 when she informed the company that she was pregnant. The company management started harassing her at the instance of her male colleagues and finally she was forced to quit her job.

The court has directed Coca Cola company to file its response to the allegations.

UNI SC AM KN1812