A Hong Kong court will rule in September on the alleged illegal firing of a former Wall Street Journal reporter who was fired shortly after taking a leadership role at a press union.
Selina Cheng launched a private prosecution against Dow Jones Publishing, the parent company of her former employer the WSJ, over it. alleged illegal discharge in July 2024after being elected president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA).
The court heard closing submissions on Monday as the trial entered its 12th day in the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts. The two sides debated whether either Cheng’s then-supervisor at the WSJ, or an HR director at Dow Jones, represented the company.
The court previously heard that Deborah Ball, the WSJ’s Asia editor and Cheng’s supervisor at the time, told Cheng that her intention to run for office at the HKJA was “inconsistent” with her employment at the paper.
Kerene Ko, human resources director at Dow Jones at the time, later informed Cheng by email that she “did not seek and will not seek the company’s approval to pursue this role (head of the HKJA)”, the court had heard.
Senior counsel Nigel Kat, representing Cheng, said on Monday that an employee enjoys “extensive protection”. from the city’s Employment Ordinancewhich prohibits employers from preventing, restraining or firing a worker for union activity.
Both Ball and Ko were “duly authorized” by Dow Jones and were acting on behalf of the company, Kat said in court.
Senior counsel Benson Tsoi, representing Dow Jones, argued that the prosecution had failed to prove that Ball and Ko were indeed guided by the company’s “leading mind and will” in their communications with Cheng.
“If anything was proven in this case, it would be against individuals,” Tsoi told the court. The prosecution failed to prove that the company committed the crime, he added.
Chief Magistrate David Cheung adjourned the case until September 10 for a ruling.
The court previously heard that Cheng, who covered China’s electric vehicle industry, was made redundant in July 2024 after the WSJ moved its Asia reporting center from Hong Kong to Singapore.
Gordon Fairclough, the WSJ’s chief of global coverage, flew to Hong Kong to personally inform Cheng of her termination.
Cheng charged Dow Jones with one count of “doing an act calculated to prevent or hinder” her from becoming an HKJA officer and a second count of termination of employment because of her union participation, according to the city’s Employment Ordinance.
Under the ordinance, an employer can be fined up to HK$100,000 for each of the violations if found guilty.
