Wall Street Journal only willing to meet for mediation talks under ‘conditions,’ court hears in wrongful dismissal suit

2026-01-25 - 21:07

Wall Street Journal was only willing to meet for mediation talks under certain “conditions,” a court has heard as an ex-employee’s wrongful dismissal suit against the newspaper continued. Selina Cheng at the Eastern Magistrates Courts on January 23, 2025. Photo: James Lee/HKFP. Selina Cheng appeared at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on Friday for the seventh day of her unlawful dismissal lawsuit against Dow Jones Publishing Co. (Asia) Inc continued. The reporter accused Dow Jones – the parent company of the Wall Street Journal – of firing her in July 2024 because she took up a chairperson position at the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), which she still heads. Senior Counsel Nigel Kat, representing Cheng, said Dow Jones’ legal representative Benson Tsoi did not provide a complete account of correspondence between the company and the reporter when questioning Cheng on Thursday. The day before, Tsoi’s questioning focused on Cheng’s request for a HK$3 million settlement as a form of mediation. He disputed Cheng’s claims that the company had “rejected mediation,” referring to a December 2024 email in which the publisher said it was “agreeable in principle” to engage in mediation talks. Wall Street Journal Corporate Headquarters in New York. File photo: John Wisniewski, via Flickr CC2.0. On Friday, Kat pointed to parts of the same email – which Tsoi did not go over – showing what the publisher’s willingness to mediate was conditional upon. Specifically, the publisher wanted the labour tribunal hearing and other procedures arising from Cheng’s complaint to the Labour Department to be postponed. During the hearing the day before, Cheng said she was always under the impression that the company wanted to delay the legal process. On Friday, she added: “I had the feeling that Dow Jones may have said a principled yes at every turn in exchange for further delays, without ever having an actual mediation meeting.” ‘The company already made a decision’ The publisher pleaded not guilty last November to two charges relating to Cheng’s dismissal in July 2024. On Thursday, Tsoi said Cheng had an “ulterior purpose” of seeking money, pointing to her request for a HK$3 million settlement. Cheng also told the court on Friday that after some of her colleagues were terminated a month before she was fired, she was told by her company that her job was safe. Senior Counsel Benson Tsoi, representing Dow Jones in Selina Cheng’s termination suit against the publisher, on January 22, 2025. Photo: James Lee/HKFP. Two senior editors based in New York, Elizabeth Harris and Jamie Heller, assured her that her work on the Chinese automobile industry was very important. Tsoi had earlier suggested that Cheng’s dismissal was not because of her chair position in the HKJA, but because of redundancy. Cheng added that her supervisor Deborah Ball also told her, prior to her termination, that there would be “no more layoffs in Hong Kong.” Later, after Cheng notified Ball about her intention to lead the union, Ball told her that the “bottom line” was the company did not want her to to take up the leadership role. “I understand that the company already made a decision and they would take that decision regardless of consequences,” Cheng said. She also told the court that she had reminded Ball that the HKJA was a registered union and that taking up position in a union was protected under law in Hong Kong.