Corporations will steal from you without mercy and you as an individual have little or any recourse.
Not paying someone for three months and then abruptly firing them with no warning is essentially robbing someone of half a year's pay For most people this is an existential threat. And we know Paul was already close to the edge.
Paul was in a situation where he literally faced losing everything. He was completely and utterly morally justified in doing what he did.
> The proper approach: if you don't pay me my salary, I will sue you.
Completely unrealistic. Suing people is only a possibility for affluent people.
I spent over thirty years in America. You are a very litigious lot, so I was directly involved in half a dozen legal proceedings, and indirectly in probably two dozen more. And yes, I have sued people and won.
If Paul had started legal proceedings the day he was fired, he'd be lucky to see some fraction of his lost salary a year later.
More, given how small the sum was (by most people's standards), it's unlikely that a lawyer would take it on contingency, without being paid in advance.
So Paul would have to wager money he doesn't have today against the possibility of getting money back next year.
Paul was put into a situation of existential threat. He reacted aggressively and probably criminally but he got away with it, and the dishonest thieves who stole his livelihood had to put it back.
Would I do this? No - because I am not desperate. If I hadn't left already, the moment my pay stopped, my work would stop too, and I'd be looking elsewhere.
It's funny. Most Americans would think it virtuous to shoot dead an intruder they found on their premises, even if that intruder had no weapons and offered no threat, even though this has long been established as morally, ethically and (in most countries) legally wrong.
But try to cheat back a company that cheated you and suddenly everyone's Mr Morality glaring down at you!
"Tut-tut, you are a dirty criminal, you must respect the system that cheated you and spend tens of thousands of dollars and months and dozens of hours of your time going through the legal system, probably to get fucked at the end."
Corporations aren't people. A corporation that deliberately cheats you of your livelihood deserves no mercy when you try to get back the money they stole, particularly when the amount they stole was an existential threat.
The only reason not to use criminal means to get your money back and to not end up on the street is because you might get caught, not because it's morally or ethically wrong.
