McGrory

I. Introduction

Defendant Applied Signal Technology, Inc. (Employer), terminated its four-year employment of plaintiff John McGrory (Employee) in June 2009 after an outside investigator retained by Employer concluded that, while Employee had not discriminated against a lesbian subordinate on the basis of her sex or sexual orientation, in other ways Employee had violated Employer’s policies on sexual harassment and business and personal ethics and he had been uncooperative and deceptive during the investigation.

As an at-will employee, Employee was subject to termination by Employer for no reason or almost any reason (Guz v. Bechtel National Inc. (2000) 24 Cal.4th 317, 335 [ 100 Cal.Rptr.2d 352 , 8 P.3d 1089 ] (Guz)), except for a reason that violates a fundamental public policy recognized in a constitutional or statutory provision. (Tameny v. Atlantic Richfield Co. (1980) 27 Cal.3d 167, 170, 172-174 [ 164 Cal.Rptr. 839 , 610 P.2d 1330 ]; Green v. Ralee Engineering *1515 Co. (1998) 19 Cal.4th 66, 79 [ 78 Cal.Rptr.2d 16 , 960 P.2d 1046 ].) Public policy, expressed in part in the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Gov. Code, § 12900 et seq.; FEHA), prohibits…