ZUS Coffee Apologises After Being Accused Of Discriminating Against OKU

ZUS Coffee has finally issued a statement to address the accusation of being unprofessional as well as discriminating the disabled community, which had gone viral on social media this week.

For context, a Twitter user known as @hairul1992 (who’s a member of the Deaf community), took to his social media to detail an unpleasant experience he encountered while applying for a job as a barista at a ZUS Coffee outlet in EkoCheras Mall.

He also accompanied his post with a few screenshots of his WhatsApp conversation with the recruiter, known as Ika.”Is it a sin to be born deaf? When I told (her) that I’m a disabled person, she immediately left me on read. Unprofessional attitude and hiring discrimination against the OKU,” Hairul expressed.

Soon after the issue went viral, the management of ZUS Coffee took swift action by coming up with an official statement regarding the matter. According to General Manager Venan Tian, his team has launched an “immediate investigation” to address the case.

“Based on the findings (as revealed in the statement), we can conclude that this was a case of miscommunication and lack of experience in handling this situation. It was never our intention to come off as discriminative towards the applicant, and for that, we sincerely apologise. We have never held back from hiring employees of all backgrounds including OKUs, provided they are able to perform all assigned tasks,” Tian explained.

ZUS Coffee has also revealed that they will make sure that the aforementioned recruiter to personally apologize to the applicant, and to reach out to him about other vacancies available at other outlets. “We sincerely apologise from the bottom of our hearts, and we commit to serve our customers better” Tian concluded his statement.

In a more recent update on his Twittter, Hairul revealed that he had already received an apology from Ika. You can read their full conversation below: