§ 6.1.6 SOURCES OF PUBLIC POLICY.

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

§ 6.1.6 Sources of Public Policy. The court in Wagenseller indicated that in Arizona,⁹⁰ wrongful discharge claims could be premised upon "public policy articulated by constitutional, statutory or decisional law."⁹¹ However, the EPA purported to eliminate state decisional law, federal statutes and municipal codes as potential sources of public policy that would support a wrongful discharge claim.⁹² Prior to the enactment of the EPA, decisional law clearly was a potential source of public policy in Arizona,⁹³ municipal codes apparently were not,⁹⁴ and the issue of whether a federal statute could support a state law wrongful discharge claim was an open question.⁹⁵

In Picht v. Peoria Unified School District No. 11, an Arizona federal district court judge indicated that the termination of a school administrator's employment in violation of a school district policy is not actionable because the EPA does not prohibit terminations in violation "of public or other policies not set forth in a statute."⁹⁶

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