There could be more to the story but, the way I would have handled that situation if I were the owner is not to fire the employee but to hold him up as what good people he has working for him to get some publicity for the company. Then when the guy screws off, which he will if he was such a bad employee then I would fire him. The idiot running the company should have seen the opportunity in front of him is he was smart. You can call me an evil republican if you want but thats the smart thing to do.