The example was intended to show that a business can recover from losing an employee entirely, I’m sure it can manage with one being late. Hell, if it’s chronic, then it should be more predictable and even easier to handle.

And if you have a chronic issue with employees chronically being late (like this meme suggesting it’s a generational thing), that’s an even bigger sign that it might be time to adapt instead of blame. Stagger shifts so multiple people arriving late on the same day doesn’t result in being that many people short at once. Offer flex shifts with more flexible start/end times and have people do less time critical tasks during this time like stocking shelves and tidying up. Schedule in more than minimum employee capacity, using workers who like being let off early. Schedule shifts to deliberately overlap so a timely handoff isn’t dependent on everyone perfectly following the schedule (plus it gives time for support tasks like cashing out and tidying up).

And understood that the pressure can come from above and your hands might be tied, I just also understand that morality doesn’t also get dictated from above. The person who has to cover for the late person is made to do so by the system set up by those with organizational power, not anything else.