A Black former branch operations lead for a JP Morgan Chase & Co. branch in Koreatown has settled his lawsuit in which he contended that he was wrongfully terminated in 2025 for complaining about management’s alleged discrimination against non-Korean-American workers.
Jorddeah Garrett maintained in his Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit that management explained that he was fired based on his job performance even though he received awards during nearly a decade of work. On Monday, Garrett’s attorneys filed court papers with Judge William F. Fahey notifying him of an “unconditional” resolution of the case. No terms were divulged.
In their previous court papers, Chase attorneys denied the plaintiff’s allegations and stated that Chase “exercised reasonable care and took all reasonable steps to prevent and correct promptly any alleged discriminatory, harassing and/or retaliatory conduct in the workplace.”
According to Garrett’s suit, he was hired as a branch operations lead at the location in the 2900 block of West Olympic Boulevard in December 2016. He trained new employees on account opening procedures, conducted observations for private client bankers, managed branch operations and performed comprehensive branch audits and compliance checks, the suit further stated.
Chase pay stubs document numerous recognition awards Garrett received, proving his strong performance and company dedication, according to the suit.
However, Garrett found many cases of Korean-American bankers discriminating against customers based on race that the branch manager discouraged him from talking about, the suit states. The branch manager himself said that Latino employees do not have a high testing pass rate and so he hired a Korean-American banker instead, the suit further contends.
Each time that Garrett reported a banker for discrimination or policy violations, the branch manager put negative information about the plaintiff in Garrett’s personnel file, the suit states.
“The discriminatory environment was further evidenced by the fact that Korean employees faced no comparable discipline despite engaging in similar or worse conduct, including chronic tardiness and cash handling violations that went unaddressed,” the suit states.
Human resources and other management-level individuals failed to do anything about the branch manager when Garrett complained and the plaintiff’s health began to suffer, forcing him to take a medical leave, the suit states. He was fired last Oct. 14, a week after he had filed a three-page ethics complaint documenting the branch’s alleged pattern of harassment and retaliation, according to the suit.
The branch manager used one word, “performance,” in telling Garrett why he was terminated, according to the suit filed Dec. 23, which alleged wrongful termination, race discrimination, retaliation and harassment.