Richard Allan Funk v. Sperry Corporation, Dba Sperry Univac

Richard Allan Funk appeals from the district court’s dismissal of his suit against his former employer, Sperry Corporation. The district court granted Sperry’s motion for summary judgment as to all of Funk’s claims, including wrongful termination, fraud, and age discrimination. We affirm.

I.

FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

Richard Allan Funk began working for Sperry in 1956, as an accountant. Twenty-one years later, in 1977, Funk was working as a manager of financial reporting in Sperry's headquarters in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. Sperry asked him whether he would be interested in moving to Irvine, California, to work at an accounting position in Sperry’s recently acquired minicomputer facility there. Funk agreed to the move.

Sperry’s Irvine facility did not prosper: in mid-1981 Sperry decided to close the Irvine plant, and in November 1981 Sperry told Funk that he would be among those laid off. Sperry assisted Funk and through the use of an outplacement ser vice, which Sperry provided, Funk found a higher-paying position with TRW. He stopped working at Sperry on March 31, 1982, and began working at TRW in June 1982. Unfortunately, Funk’s TRW job ended in March 1983.

Shortly…