Day 202 - 11 Jan 96 - Page 38
1 A. I was senior Supervisor when he left the Company.
2
3 Q. Mike Guerin?
4 A. Yes.
5
6 Q. What was his position?
7 A. He was Operations Manager. I think there may have been
8 some confusion from things that I have read. The Senior
9 Supervisor position disappeared later and became the
10 Operations Manager position, so the hierarchy contracted by
11 one grade. So above Supervisor there was to be an interim
12 position which was Senior Supervisor, which then went into
13 Operations Manager and the Senior Supervisor position
14 disappeared, so it moved to supervisors reporting into
15 Operations Manager.
16
17 Q. So was Mike Guerin your immediate superior?
18 A. Yes, he was.
19
20 Q. You talked, in the previous document, about the number of
21 managers leaving and dismissals. If a Manager was going to
22 be dismissed, could the Supervisor do that without your
23 knowledge or say so?
24 A. No, if it got to a stage where someone had to be
25 dismissed it would be referred to the Human Resources
26 department and to myself to make sure that everything was
27 OK. The dismissals here is, you know, if we are talking
28 about gross misconduct, or something like that, where --
29 you have to assess that within Neil's review, would be
30 appropriate.
31
32 Q. So, would you be involved throughout -- I do not mean you
33 personally but someone in your position -- would you have
34 been involved throughout in any disciplinary process of
35 managers, or would you only become involved if they were
36 actually about to be dismissed?
37 A. It would depend on what disciplinary procedure was
38 happening. If it was something, say, where a trainee
39 Manager or a Second Assistant received a verbal warning for
40 something that was a minor, then it would be unlikely that
41 I would be involved greatly in that and then it would be
42 mentioned to me. If it was a restaurant Manager, it is
43 more likely that I would have been consulted; but for a
44 warning to be given out there has to be consultation with
45 the Human Resources Department to make sure everything is
46 OK, and there are correct grounds to do that.
47
48 Q. I am finding it really difficult to think straight and keep
49 a train of thought.
50
51 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I will rise for five minutes, but we must be
52 very near the end.
53
54 MS. STEEL: I have not got many questions.
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We will finish Mr. Atherton's evidence this
57 evening, but I will come back at quarter to four. In the
58 meantime, you will think about it.
59
60 (Short adjournment)
