Police are investigating after a 22-year-old woman was kicked in the stomach at work, after allegedly asking to be paid for the trial shifts she worked at Adelaide bubble tea shop, Fun Tea.
Footage of the Friday night incident and the brawl which ensued first gained traction on AdelaideBBS, a Chinese-language online portal in South Australia.
According to people who translated the video, the woman allegedly worked a bunch of trial shifts at the store without pay before being let go. She can be heard asking to be paid $10 per hour for those shifts – still lower than minimum wage.
“At 9.25pm Friday 29 January police were called to a business on Gouger Street following reports that a woman had been assaulted,” SA Police said in a statement to 7 News.
“The suspect is known to the victim and police are investigating.”
They added that the woman was treated by paramedics at the scene.
A man can be seen slapping the woman in the face and then grabbing another man who appears to be trying to stop him intervening after the initial slap.
Afterwards, the man can be seen kicking the woman in the stomach, causing her to hit the ground hard.
Eventually, an all-out brawl erupts as other staff members try to break up the fight. Customers, including children, can be seen watching on in horror.
People were understandably appalled.
“Let’s boycott this store and close the door for him!” one AdelaideBBS commenter said.
On Reddit, people claimed many more young Chinese workers faced this kind of abuse in Australia.
Fun Tea has since deleted its Facebook page and disabled comments on Instagram.
