Day 208 - 24 Jan 96 - Page 42


     
     1        worked between 11.00 and 3.00.
     2
     3   MR. RAMPTON:  He said he was aware of the provision.
     4
     5   MR. MORRIS:  This attitude of yours as a Manager in allowing
     6        people to have less than their entitled breaks, is that
     7        something that you have made up yourself, or is that
     8        something which you were taught by the Company?
     9        A.  I have never actually been taught that by the Company.
    10        I would say it was my own view on keeping the crew members
    11        happy.
    12
    13   Q.   So you have not been taught whether or not you should do
    14        that; the Company has not educated you -----
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am going to stop this now, because you can
    17        comment in due course when we know exactly what the
    18        position is.  I can see nothing wrong in something like an
    19        eight hour shift with someone taking half an hour break
    20        when they are entitled to three-quarters of an hour break,
    21        if that is what their choice is, because, speaking for
    22        myself, half an hour break in the middle of an eight hour
    23        shift seems to me to be quite a decent break.  If however,
    24        it turns out that the law is that you must have a
    25        three-quarter hour break in an eight hour period, then
    26        I will defer to the wisdom of Parliament and may well take
    27        a different attitude.
    28
    29        Before you make any further comment on it -- and I do not
    30        really think you can ask this witness any more questions on
    31        it usefully -- I need to know what the legal position is.
    32        I do not think Mr. Cox can help any further on it.  You
    33        have asked him several questions about his attitude.  With
    34        all respect to him, he is not a senior Manager in charge of
    35        policy.
    36
    37   MR. MORRIS:  I have just asked him whether his position is what
    38        the Company position is, what he was taught.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not know whether he has the first idea
    41        in his status of just what the Company policy is.  You can
    42        make a comment in due course, if you like, that he did not
    43        know this and you say he ought to have done, whether it is
    44        about the legal situation or the Company policy.  But
    45        I really think we have begun to go round in circles now.
    46
    47   MR. MORRIS:  We are just trying to see if Mr. Cox's attitude is
    48        just something that he made up.  Can I ask him just one
    49        general question?
    50 
    51        (To the witness)  At the Bath store, that would be the 
    52        general attitude of Managers, would it, to allow people to 
    53        get less than their break entitlement?
    54        A.  I cannot comment on other Managers' practices,
    55        because -----
    56
    57   Q.   You must know?
    58        A.  You work with the other Managers and you work as part
    59        of a team, but you do not actually work in the same area.
    60        So I could not tell you if the person -----

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