Litigation involving a Federation of Korean Industries Employee who claimed Wrongful Discharge when terminated for Poor Performance

An employee was terminated for poor business performance and inappropriate workplace behavior. In defense against the employee’s claim for wrongful discharge, Lee & Ko carefully reviewed the efforts of the employer to avoid termination, including the multiple opportunities given to the employee to foster performance improvements, as well as the employer’s fair and reasonable criteria for evaluations, and was ultimately able to convince the court that the termination as lawful and justified.

This victory is significant in that it helped clarify that the past efforts by the employer to assist or provide opportunities for the employee to improve and a fair and reasonable standard for performance evaluations may serve as prima facie evidence to justify a termination for poor performance.