Al,
I am glad things worked out for you! Good job.
Your story made me wonder about something, though, and I thought I'd throw this (fictional) scenerio to the group for comments:
Al was lucky as he had time to seek advice and make a decision over a few days. But let's say Al ran a business where this employee, on whose breath he thought he smelled alcohol, had to drive or otherwise perform actions whose consequences could be potentially dangerous for the suspected drinker as well as other innocent bystanders or employees. Let's say Al ran a delivery business and this guy was loading the company's delivery truck and would be leaving in 5 minutes to begin deliveries. Now a decision must be made immediately, a decision which could, if not handled just right, potentially result in a lawsuit by the employee against Al, or (much worse) a lawsuit by some injured party against Al and his company, or (even worse) the death of someone. A sticky wicket indeed.
I would guess the "right" answer (if there is such a thing) would depend on the state it occurred in as well as perhaps other variables. But I would think this situation (or one similar) is something that could potentially happen to most of us, and yet I would bet most of us are ill prepared to handle it. Something to think about...
Any HR experts or lawyers wanna take a shot at it?