This is most certainly about an unpaid lunch break.
The period and time where he was to take his contractual lunch break had come and gone.
The company does not have the right to tell him to take his lunch break, after having worked 12+hrs, if he had not taken it during the prescribed contractual time frame.
By doing so they are entering into an extra-contractual agreement with the employee.
The company does have the right to give him a warning letter and enact progressive discipline for future infractions.
This is a joke and will amount to nothing in regards to the discharge.
It is designed to intimidate the driver and his peers.
What it will amount to, for the driver, is lo$t wage$.
He will get his job back with no back pay in due time.
How many days pay will it cost him???
In the end, the company, grievance panel or arbitrator will give him his job back.
I have no doubt.
I'm betting my money on him excepting an offer from the company to reduce the discharge to a suspension, time served at the local level hearing.
The hearing will probably be on Monday to put the driver on ice over the weekend.
It will consume him for 4 days and he wont think twice before excepting the deal.
Who could blame him?
It would be my advice to do just that.
In this case the company carries very little liability in the form of back pay.
So fortitude will only get him more time off.
Sad, but true.
Conversely, I'm not sure having the right to skip lunch is worth fighting for.