There's always something more.....
There's always (well, usually) something more to these stories than meets the eye.
Perhaps this fella had been guilty of misconduct in the past, but had done something(s) that the airline, though frowning upon, could not actually dismiss him for.
Theft is a real trump card for the airlines. Everyone nicks the odd thing from the jet now and again - a bar of chocolate for the bus ride to the hotel, a newspaper, even a tube of lip-balm (unopened) from a discarded amenities bag... All technically theft and all sackable offences.
Would the airline, however, sack their prize employee for nicking one of these items?! I doubt it. Would the airline use this an an excuse to sack someone who is continually in trouble but not for things that the airline could show him the door over? Absolutely.
Crafty? Sneaky? Snide? Perhaps.
Clever? Without a doubt.
Perhaps this poor fella's problem was merely that he had been with the airline for 32 years and was earning more than the company wanted to pay him. They had two options :
1) pay him off (costly!) or let him work out his time (also costly!)
2) sack him
They appear to have opted for the latter.