Doris Gray v. Motorola, Inc.

MEMORANDUM

Doris Gray (“Gray”) appeals the summary judgment grant in favor of Motorola, Inc. (“Motorola”) on her claims of retaliation in violation of the Arizona Employment Protection Act (“AEPA”) and/or Arizona public policy, and age discrimination in violation of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”). We affirm.

The district court did not err in granting summary judgment to Motorola on Gray’s retaliation claim. As the district court noted, Gray’s complaints to Motorola appeared self-motivated (e.g., wanting her name off the contract, not wanting the incident to hurt her later in her career, etc.), and she never sufficiently identified to Motorola a basis for her belief that its actions were unlawful. Even assuming she subjectively believed Motorola had some ethical obligation to immediately inform the contracting party that a forgery had occurred, she lacked an objective, good faith belief that Motorola’s conduct violated the law. Motorola was actually the victim of the forgery, which resulted in contract terms more favorable to a third party than Motorola would ordinarily accept. The company’s conduct in not immediately informing that party was not unlawful or…