Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 58


     
     1        done.  The first question was whether it happened at all
     2        and, if so, to what extent.  If you establish, either
     3        directly or by inference, that it was happening to a
     4        considerable extent, then you have made your point against
     5        McDonald's so far as this area is concerned.  I am finding
     6        it difficult to see how it adds any more to the case what
     7        Mr. Nicholson would have done in those circumstances.
     8
     9        I have to say that it is my experience that the longer
    10        anyone is in a job which presents them with various
    11        problems, the more inclined they are when asked:
    12         "What would you do if this happened?" to say:  "Well, I
    13        would wait and if it happened I would look into all the
    14        facts and decide what was appropriate then".  In fact, a
    15        McDonald's witness earlier in the case said that the
    16        attitude was, first, establish the facts and then take
    17        whatever was thought to be the appropriate action.
    18
    19        You are either, at the end of the day, going to establish
    20        that these malpractices took place or not.  If you
    21        establish that they did to any significant degree, you have
    22        made your point; if you do not establish it, it does not
    23        matter a fig what Mr. Nicholson would have done if they had
    24        happened.
    25
    26   MS. STEEL:  I think it does indicate a certain attitude on the
    27        part of the Company, but I will leave it there.
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you establish that the practices took
    30        place, you have probably won that to any significant
    31        degree, rather than it being some wayward manager who is
    32        using this as a ruse to avoid the legal requirements and
    33        getting away with it unbeknown to more senior management.
    34        We have really got to look at what the evidence establishes
    35        at the end of the day.
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  Yes, but if the Company does not take that kind of
    38        matter seriously or does not take any action, then it is
    39        not a wayward manager; it is something which is part of the
    40        culture of the Company.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I cannot keep repeating it.  All I can say
    43        is do not really think your argument, which may be a good
    44        one, is advanced by asking Mr. Nicholson to apply his mind
    45        to a problem which he says did not exist, as far as he was
    46        concerned.
    47
    48   MS. STEEL:  Can I just ask one thing?  (To the witness):  The
    49        staff that go to the stores from Head Office or regional
    50        office, or whatever, to check on payroll matters, if there 
    51        are a lot of "miscellaneous" payments made or "bonus" 
    52        payments, or whatever, do they look into that and ask about 
    53        that?
    54        A.  Yes, in addition to the Operational staff and the Field
    55        Personnel staff who look at it from different angles, there
    56        is an audit.  There is a team of auditors, a Company team
    57        of auditors who go and they pick up these.  They ask the
    58        questions and they find out the answers and they submit a
    59        report.
    60

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