Is Daily Glass of Wine at Lunch Break Just Cause to Dismiss?

The court said it wasn’t and ordered the used car dealer to pay the manager $48.5K for wrongful termination. The manager’s habit of drinking a single glass of wine did violate the dealer’s zero tolerance alcohol consumption policy. But nobody told the manager about the policy when he was first hired. Nor was the policy part of the manager’s original contract; and attempts to insert it into the contract later failed because the dealer didn’t give the manager anything back in exchange for the proposed change. On top of it all, the manager was told that he could have a glass of wine at lunch as long as he didn’t let it impair his judgment at work. And the dealer offered no evidence showing that the manager was ever impaired