§ 1.2.7.3.2 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PUBLIC POLICY DOCTRINE IN ARIZONA.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 1.2.7.3.2 The Development of the Public Policy Doctrine in Arizona. Larsen⁷³ appears to be the first Arizona case to identify public policy as grounds for an action for unjust dismissal, but the court refused to adopt the doctrine. The first Arizona case to explicitly hold that termination for a reason that would violate public policy supported an action for unjust dismissal was Vermillion v. AAA Pro Moving & Storage.⁷⁴ Vermillion claimed that the employer ordered him to conceal a theft of a customer's property. When Vermillion told the customer that his employer had stolen the property, he was fired. Citing Petermann⁷⁵ and Kelsay v. Motorola, Inc.,⁷⁶ and noting that the supreme court in Leikvold had reserved judgment on wrongful discharge claims that would violate public policy, the court adopted the public policy doctrine in employment cases.⁷⁷

The supreme court expanded and refined the public policy exception in Wagenseller⁷⁸ when it held that terminating a nurse for her refusal to participate in a "mooning" parody was a violation of public policy against indecent exposure and hence constituted "bad cause." The rule stated by the court is that "an employer may fire for good cause or for no cause [but] [h]e may not fire for bad cause?that which violates public policy."⁷⁹ The court also held that an explicit statutory expression of public policy was not required, and identified sources of "public policy" as a state's judicial decisions as...