Day 116 - 26 Apr 95 - Page 26
1
2 Q. 715C. It post dates your memorandum; you see that, do you
3 not, Mr. Nicholson?
4 A. Yes, indeed.
5
6 Q. It comes from Ms Louise Phillips who is Child Employment
7 Officer at ILEA?
8 A. Yes.
9
10 Q. It says: "Dear Miss Flatley, we are very pleased to note
11 from your letter sent to Mr. MacParland, another Child
12 Employment Officer in ILEA, Division 9, that McDonald's may
13 now be considering employing school age pupils for
14 part-time work. We are always pleased to see new
15 opportunities for young people with responsible
16 employers".
17
18 A question there: Had you suddenly said to yourselves: "We
19 ought to be employing school aged, school leaving children
20 as part-time employees", do you think?
21 A. I think we had considered it. I think we were asked to
22 consider it.
23
24 Q. Asked to consider it by whom, do you think?
25 A. The Operations Department.
26
27 Q. But it is the next paragraph I am interested in: "However,
28 I should like to bring to your attention some information
29 that was very recently made known to me on a visit to a
30 Secondary School in Hackney. One of the fourth year pupils
31 at the school claimed that she had worked for a local
32 McDonald's (and may still do) being employed quite late in
33 the evening and without a work permit. She apparently used
34 her mother's DHSS number and presumably lied about her
35 age. I have no reason to doubt this information." Do you
36 know anything about that particular case yourself?
37 A. No, I do not.
38
39 Q. The question I have is this: Is that sort of thing, or was
40 it, a recurrent problem, children lying about their age to
41 get a job at McDonald's, do you think?
42 A. I do not think so.
43
44 Q. Finally on this question, Mr. Nicholson -- there is no need
45 for you to get out another bundle -- my Lord, this is the
46 passage which is now numbered 59 in the Abstract. It is on
47 page 23 of tab 7, my Lord. I will read it out to you,
48 Mr. Nicholson, and then ask you what you say about it. It
49 reads as follows:
50
51 "The Defendants will also rely on am admission" and it is
52 so described, "by Joanna Blackett, Senior Personnel field
53 Manager for McDonald's in March 1987, that it was an
54 exception for employees to work more than 39 hours, but
55 that in rare circumstances they might have to and they
56 would not then get any extra overtime rate."
57
58 Leaving aside the bit about overtime -- we will come back
59 to that -- does that or does that not seem to you a fair
60 statement by Joanna Blackett?
