from your link Defamation is an injury to the reputation or character of someone resulting from the false statements or actions of another [...] I

from your link Defamation is an injury to the reputation or character of someone resulting from the false statements or actions of another [...] In order to be defamatory the statement must be, of course, false. false statements if Yishan lied, then yes -- there is defamation. Otherwise, it seems little different than the rest of the US. BTW, any competent hr department, or legal, or even co-employers like many startups use , will have had you build a paper trail -- emails, notes on conversations, a pip -- to justify firing for cause.