A Vietnamese woman in Hong Kong has filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission after her employer allegedly used a derogatory Vietnamese term to refer to her on her first day of part-time work.
The woman said in a social media post on Tuesday (May 12) that she had not yet met any colleagues in person when her boss referred to her as “phò” in a workplace group chat after learning she was Vietnamese.
She described the incident as the first time she had experienced such direct discrimination, saying she felt deeply offended and uncomfortable.
Screenshots uploaded alongside the post showed a person believed to be the employer introducing her in the group chat using the term “phở” while asking other staff members to “take care of her.”
Source: Threads
Online sources and netizens noted that “phò” is a derogatory Vietnamese slang term referring to a “prostitute” or “sex worker,” while “phở” refers to the Vietnamese noodle dish.
While it has not been confirmed whether the employer intentionally used the homophone to make a derogatory reference, netizens argued that replacing a person’s name with a food term was itself disrespectful.
The woman rejected suggestions that the message may have been a typing mistake of her real name, arguing that the use of Vietnamese tone marks indicated it was intentional.
She later said she immediately quit the job and left the group chat after receiving the message.
The incident sparked widespread criticism online, with many netizens condemning the alleged remark as racist and sexist. Some urged her to report the case to the Equal Opportunities Commission, which she later confirmed she had done.
The commission has not publicly commented on the case.
𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓
