Question: Boris was a physician on the staff of a city hospital. He was an at-will employee. He was a recent immigrant from an East European country which had a health-care system that was years behind that of the U.S. in terms of technology and equipment. Consequently, equipment which was deemed to be obsolete in Boris's hospital was often considered to be nearly state-of-the-art in his homeland. A number of such pieces of lab equipment were targeted for disposal by his department at the hospital. Without seeking permission, Boris rented a truck and with the help of a friend, took the equipment from the hospital's rear loading dock and, easily finding a buyer, shipped the equipment off to a health-care facility in his homeland.
When the hospital learned what Boris had done, he was fired. The hospital also called the police and filed a criminal complaint. However, when the local DA studied the police report, she determined that the equipment had been abandoned by the hospital and therefore no crime had been committed. Does Boris have a claim of wrongful discharge? Does your answer change if the hospital's employee handbook said that employees would only be fired for "good cause"? Does your answer change if Boris had salvaged equipment like this before, but with the advance permission of the head of his department, and he assumed that he had standing permission to continue doing so?