A hospital chain hired a woman of Asian national origin as vice president for human resources. She received two annual performance appraisals that indicated she was meeting the hospital's standards in most areas. About two years after her hiring, a new president took over and the woman was ter- minated. The woman was not told the reason at the time, but the hospital now cites a number of failings relating to inadequate management of le- gal compliance issues as the basis for the termination. These concerns were not specifically addressed in her performance appraisals. The woman contends that she was discriminated against and that several other employees had re- ceived counseling and were allowed time to correct performance deficiencies. What should the court decide? Why? (Sakaguchi v. Legacy Health System, 1999 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11080)