Bob Thomas was discharged after nineteen years as a plant maintenance engineer w

Bob Thomas was discharged after nineteen years as a plant maintenance engineer with Apollo Corporation. During that time he had received average and sometimes below-average annual performance appraisals. Thomas was known as something of a complainer and troublemaker and he was highly critical of management. Prior to his termination his attendance record for the previous five years had been very poor. However Apollo Corporation had never enforced its attendance policy and Thomas had never been disciplined for his attendance problems. In fact until recently Apollo management had been rather laid-back in its dealings with employees.