Coaching Managers are employees who are not only insurance recruiters themselves, but also responsible for the training and supervision of other insurance recruiters. The Coaching Managers alleged that they qualified as “employees” for purposes of severance payments and filed requests for payment.

Lee & Ko carefully assessed the standard for determining whether an individual qualifies as an “employee,” and applied the standard to the actual work responsibilities of the relevant individuals, and was able to successfully convince the court that the Coach Managers did not qualify “employees” for severance payment purposes.

This case is significant in that the court refused to recognize the Coaching Managers as employees despite the recent trend of courts being more lenient towards employees and finding that they qualify as “employees” for employment law and severance purposes.