Day 259 - 10 Jun 96 - Page 35
1 kind of information to Mr. Mills?
2 A. It was not my job to pass information on to Mr. Mills.
3 It was Mr. Mills' job to come and investigate if a crew
4 member had made a complaint.
5
6 Q. Right.
7 A. So, it was not for me to pass on anything, if there
8 was, indeed, anything.
9
10 Q. Are you aware that in the Crew Handbook it is an offence
11 for a crew member to talk about work conditions to an
12 outside third party?
13 A. Am I aware of it, or was I aware of it?
14
15 Q. Were you aware of it at the time?
16 A. I probably was, yes. I had a copy of the
17 Crew Handbook.
18
19 Q. You did not feel, seeing as the crew members might be
20 inhibited or, in fact, banned from discussing conditions of
21 work with someone like a wage inspector, that they would
22 believe that, you did not feel it was therefore your
23 obligation to pass on any information that was concerning
24 you or worrying you about what was happening at store
25 level?
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You had better ask if there was information
28 that was concerning or worrying Mrs. Pearce, first.
29
30 MR. MORRIS: Were you aware of things that were happening during
31 your time that concerned you, about illegal hours being
32 worked or -----
33 A. I was not concerned, because if a crew member was
34 unhappy, he was able to speak to his immediate superior.
35
36 Q. You do not know that, do you?
37 A. Of course I knew it, because I was in charge of the
38 payroll department. So, if there had been a crew member
39 who was unhappy with their pay or their hours, they would
40 present it to their immediate superior, who would then come
41 back to me and say, "Can you check that this person's wages
42 were correct for that fortnight?" So, yes, I would have
43 been aware if they had made a complaint to their immediate
44 superior. If they kept it to themselves, then I would not
45 know, would I?
46
47 Q. Are you saying that you only found out about what was
48 happening at store level, in terms of problems, if a crew
49 member made a complaint and it came up through the system
50 that way?
51 A. How else would I know? I do not have a crystal ball.
52
53 Q. You did not get regular information from, for example,
54 store audits done by the Company where they had identified
55 problems that were going on?
56 A. I would have been privy to the reports, and if there
57 was something that was being mishandled within my
58 department, I would have asked to look at it. But I am not
59 sure what the question is.
60
