Assignment task: Three Toronto firefighters were fired in 2013 for making sexist tweets that were degrading to women. Examples of the tweets included the following:
One quote from the TV show The Office read: "Reject a woman and she will never let it go. One of the many defects of their kind. Also weak arms."
Another was a line from the TV show South Park: "I'd never let a woman kick my a-. If she tried something, I'd be like HEY! You get your b-- a- back in the kitchen and make me some pie!"
One tweet, referencing a woman ordering coffee and overusing the word "like," queried: "[W]ould [swatting] her in the back of the head be considered abuse or a way to reset the brain?"
City officials indicated that these and similar tweets violated the city's social media guidelines, which state that employees should "not engage in harassment, personal attacks or abuse toward individuals or organizations," and "not use language that is discriminatory, hateful, or violent towards identifiable groups or that incites others to discriminate [or] practice hate or violence."
The three unionized firefighters grieved their dismissal.
a. Did the employer have just cause to dismiss these employees for this off-duty conduct?
b. Explain your answer.