Escalante

BEDSWORTH, Acting P.J.

An employer's right to terminate an "at-will" employment relationship is largely unfettered. For the most part, the decision can be both arbitrary and unwise—as it may have been in this case—without being actionable. The courts have limited an employer's right of termination only to the extent its exercise is based upon considerations antithetical to societal interests, such as unlawful discrimination or an employee's refusal to engage in wrongful or criminal conduct. This appeal raises the question of whether an employer can terminate an at-will employee for exercising his constitutionally-guaranteed right to self-defense.

Wilson's Art Studio, Inc., appeals from a judgment in favor of Hector Escalante for wrongful termination in violation of public policy. The jury found that Escalante's employment was terminated because he chose to engage in self-defense rather than continue his initial retreat from a coworker's physical attack. While we sympathize with Escalante and find his decision understandable, we cannot say the employer's policy against employee fighting, even in self-defense if retreat is possible, violates any public policy. It cannot,…