You have to pay attention to the details with regards to this incident. Though the employee was surfing porn on company time, there were others in the company who did as well but weren't fired for it. If they had been treated the same as he, he would never have won his appeal. The issue is fairness of discipline. They canned him but not the others. That's not fair and equal... which is what unions fight for.
The second issue is the amount of time that passed during the appeal of his termination. Since it was ruled he was unfairly fired, he would have normally been employed and been receiving the raises when they came up... so he was entitled to them when he returned.
He hasn't gotten off easy... remember that he went a whole year without pay. He probably has incurred many debts because of it. Also remember that when he was reinstated, he got back pay, which meant his income taxes for this year are going to sock him hard. While I'm not defending his return or his ruling, the company screwed up with their discipline... hence the reason why things turned out the way they did. In the end, it is their fault they didnt handle it better.
