He didn't ruin it for everybody. Management decided to punish the collective rather than deal with an employee who is acting in bad faith.
He did ruin it for everyone.
Management called him up on the sick days. he responds by saying that there's no policy for sick days, and to show him in the handbook where it says he has a limited number of sick days, or that he needs to notify someone. They can't, because we don't have one. When he's told this isn't acceptable, he pushes back saying that he's being singled out.
In a lot of places, you can't fire people unless they've violated written policy.