David Johnson is a unionized employee working with Lutz-Lubbitz Auto Parts. He has been with the company 10 years and has been a relatively good employee with a couple of minor attendance issues and one respectful workplace complaint in 2020, which was investigated and found that Johnson had engaged in disrespectful conduct toward a fellow employee. He received a one month suspension without pay for that incident. The union grieved the finding but the arbitrator, after a one-week hearing, upheld the one month suspension.

Last week, a fellow employee, Matt McCarthy, misread a number of signals from David Johnson and believed that Johnson may be gay and may be interested in a romantic relationship with him. When Matt approached him with a sexual advance, David became very agitated and became threatening. A few other co-workers pulled him away and there was no further incident in the workplace.

That night, David took to social media. On his Instagram and Twitter he posted the following: "Was approached by a big _________at work today who wanted to probably ______ my ________. Should have kicked the f--- out of him, but I guess I'm just too nice". He went on to say "I hate _______s and hope they all burn in hell". He continued "F--- I can't stand this h---- shit".

As he scrolled through the newsfeed for that day, he also came across a news article about a young man who was acquitted by a criminal court. He had been charged with a number of counts related to drinking and driving and criminal negligence causing death, but because some of the evidence had been improperly obtained in violation of the accused's constitutional rights, that evidence was excluded, leaving the Crown with not enough evidence for a conviction. David went on an almighty rant over that, outlining his opinions on how "liberal" this country is, how f___________ ___________ are causing all the crime and how in his opinion this country is being ruined by bleeding heart liberals. He went on to state that the best solution would be to "hang all these liberal judges" and the best justice would be just to "kill all the bleeding heart liberals".

A number of David's co-workers read these posts and were very upset by them, including Matt. A number of the co-workers brought screen shots in to the boss at work, who took them to the senior management.

The employer fired David, citing the following sections of the collective agreement:

Article 12: CONDUCT

12.01 All employees shall conduct themselves in a manner which will not bring discredit to the good reputation of the company, or its employees or customers.

Article 20: DISCIPLINARY MEASURES AND RELIEF FROM DUTIES

20.01 An employee may be disciplined only for just and reasonable cause. Such disciplinary action shall be reasonable and commensurate with the seriousness of the violation.

20.02 The causes for discipline shall include, but are not limited to, gross misconduct; an immediate threat to the company's employees or physical facilities; persistent neglect of duty; failure to maintain an acceptable standard of competence and performance of duties appropriate to the job; or malicious damage to company property.

20.03 The only disciplinary measures that may be taken by the company are the following:

(a) a letter of warning or reprimand;

(b) suspension without loss of pay;

(c) suspension with loss of pay;

(d) dismissal.

The union has grieved the termination. The matter has come before an arbitrator.

Question: You are the arbitrator. Render your decision in this case, having regard to the relevant legal considerations you must weigh. Your options are:

1. Uphold the termination;

2. Substitute the termination with a warning, reprimand, or suspension with or without pay;

3. Find that there was no wrongdoing and there was no cause for termination or any other discipline.

Make sure you give a well-reasoned decision, based on principles of law. Keep to around five hundred characters max.