Suppose the guy said something that was truly unacceptable, e.g. something like "Hey McCarthy, you asshole, how come you don't get on those asshole OL's for being asshole useless"? Why, after he said "all I said was this innocuous thing here", didn't they say, "he didn't say something innocuous, he was disrespectful and insubordinate"? That they didn't do this suggests to me either:
a. he didn't say anything that deserved firing. Anything that anyone other than a bully would be bothered by.
or
b. GB is hiding behind PR-speak, again.
or
c. GB is afraid of lawsuits (which, if he was truly disrespectful, they shouldn't be, since they've got the edge both money- and PR-wise over any low-level maintenance employee)
or
d. (the only possibility that might engender some sympathy for GB from me) this guy's been in trouble for some time, and the last remark was of the "straw that broke the camel's back."
It seems to me that a, b, c all show as an organization with problems of leadership. D is the only one where a "too early to tell full story" counter-explanation might hold.
"Wade" wrote: