| Court: | Supreme Court of California |
| Facts: | Plaintiff a retail sales representative for Arco. Arco asked him to engage in some price-fixing that would violate antitrust law. He declines, and was terminated, ostensibly for incompetence (his history of promotion notwithstanding). |
| Posture: | Defendants demurred to the initial tort causes of action, and proceeded in contract. Trial court dismissed and entered judgment for Arco, plaintiff appeals. |
| Issue: | Can an employer require an employee to do something illegal? |
| Holding: | Reversed. This was the tort of wrongful termination. |
| Rule: | Employers have a duty to abide by the law. |
| Reasoning: | If you allowed this demurrer, what would stop you from allowing workers to unionize and then terminating them for doing so? |
| Dicta: | Dissenting opinion: the court is overstepping its bounds here; the legislature has been clear that this is a contract, not a tort, issue. |