Mickey D shells out to wronged employee

Two things astound me here, (1) a manager unilaterally dismissed an employee over a slice of cheese; and (2) the corporation backed up the manager's nonsensical dismissal with an even more nonsensical defense.

Context: a contract employee at McDolands in the Netherlands was fired because she gave another employee a slice of cheese on their burger for free. She sued.

McDoland's defense: she shouldn't have done that.

She won.

This is a perfect example of why everyone needs HR. If they had an HR person, or had given their manager minimal training in HR, or their lawyers minimal training in employment law, they could have avoided having to pay the employee 5 months pay (her full expected salary at the end of the contract) as well as the costly court fees. Was this her first offence? Had she had written notices before? Was it stated in her contract that one violation would constitute dismissal? Was there a dismiss at will clause?

The ignorance.

-------
Link to article for those interested