Introduction:Recently, CHALI Group, a well-known tea beverage company in Guangzhou, was exposed by multiple employees and job applicants for allegedly withholding salaries for August and September, failing to actually pay housing provident fund deductions, and even being accused by some employees of conducting personal credit checks without consent. This article thoroughly compiles the sequence of events, official responses, and netizen feedback to help readers understand common points of labor rights disputes and suggestions on how to respond.
The Guangzhou-based tea beverage brand CHALI Group has recently been caught up in a labor dispute storm. Multiple users on social media platforms have pointed out that the company has not been paying employee salaries normally since August this year, with even September salaries being delayed. More concerning is the discovery by employees that the housing provident fund portion deducted from their salaries was not actually deposited into their personal accounts as it should have been.
On the Xiaohongshu platform, a post titled "Avoid CHALI Group Co., Ltd. in Guangzhou" details how one user revealed that as of November, the company had still not paid the salaries for August and September, and although the housing provident fund had been withheld from salaries, it was never actually contributed. Similar experiences are not isolated cases — another job applicant shared that after joining CHALI earlier this year, salary payments were often delayed, and even after resigning in September, they had still not received their salaries for August and September or the housing provident fund contributions for April through September by November.
According to public information, Guangzhou CHALI Group Co., Ltd. was established in August 2013 with a registered capital of 22.843208 million RMB. The company’s registered address is at No. 22, Qunxin Road, Hengli Industrial Zone, Nansha District, Guangzhou City (self-numbered A-2), primarily used for office purposes. The company’s 2023 annual report shows that it had approximately 114 full-time employees.
CHALI Group’s official website describes itself as a professional tea beverage service provider, operating two major brands: the mass-market fast-moving consumer tea brand “CHALI,” and the more premium new-age health tea brand “Yushou Tea.” The product range is diverse, including loose-leaf tea bags, bottled ready-to-drink teas, freeze-dried tea blocks, and tea powders, with sales channels covering physical stores, hotels, catering venues, shopping malls, and various major online e-commerce platforms.
In addition to salary disputes, some employees have also posted online accusing CHALI Group of investigating personal credit records without authorization. One user, in an article titled "Avoid This Company," pointed out that after attending an interview, the company checked their personal credit record during the background check process without informing them or obtaining their consent, which made them feel very uneasy.
In response to external scrutiny, CHALI Group issued a statement on November 7 through an internal representative to the media. The representative clarified that the claim of “no issues noticed during the interview, but my credit was checked during the background check without my consent” did not align with the facts, emphasizing that the company’s HR department always obtains a signed authorization form from the individual before conducting any background checks. Additionally, the representative stated that after communicating with the relevant poster, both parties had reached an understanding.
However, as of the time of writing, searching for keywords such as “avoid CHALI” or “CHALI” on Xiaohongshu still yields numerous user-shared experiences of similar salary arrears and delayed housing provident fund payments. Many netizens in the comment section said: “Why are there so many negative reports about this company lately?” “We’ve heard for a while that there are issues with the company — looks like it’s true.” One netizen even mentioned that they tried to seek help from the labor inspection department but had not received a substantive response so far.
Regarding the salary arrears and unpaid housing provident fund incidents, reporters have made multiple attempts to contact internal representatives of CHALI Group, but as of now, no further official response has been received. This incident not only highlights the underlying labor environment issues in the tea beverage industry but also serves as a reminder to job seekers and current employees to pay closer attention to the protection of their own rights and whether related procedures are compliant.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
