Day 208 - 24 Jan 96 - Page 41
1 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You keep coming back to this. When you find
2 out about it, you can mount an argument, if you wish, that
3 if you only have half an hour break rather than
4 three-quarters of an hour break, you are a safety risk.
5 But I do not think Mr. Cox can -----
6
7 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness) You have run shifts, have you
8 not?
9 A. I have run one shift on the occasion of the salaried
10 Management being sick for the evening.
11
12 Q. OK. As a Floor Manager, can you say when people should do
13 their breaks?
14 A. The Floor Managers would be in charge of doing the
15 breaks schedule.
16
17 Q. For the people in their charge?
18 A. In their area, yes.
19
20 Q. Do you have any concern over the safety of employees?
21 A. Yes.
22
23 Q. Do you have any concern over the safety of customers?
24 A. Certainly.
25
26 Q. Do you have any concern that people should get the breaks
27 they are entitled to?
28 A. Yes, I do.
29
30 Q. How do you ensure that every person in your charge gets the
31 break that they are entitled to?
32 A. From my own point of view, I tend to work out a list in
33 advance and send people at a time which is reasonable,
34 somewhere near the middle of their shift.
35
36 Q. How do you make sure that they do not come back too early
37 from the break they are entitled to?
38 A. I do not.
39
40 Q. So, you are happy for them to get less break than they are
41 entitled to, as a Manager?
42 A. I see my job as keeping the employees as happy as
43 I possibly can. If the employee likes to take only half an
44 hour, as opposed to 45 minutes, then that is fine.
45
46 Q. You do not even know the law, do you, or the Company --
47 sorry -- you do not even know the Company regulations on
48 breaks?
49 A. I know the Company's policy in terms of breaks.
50
51 Q. You did not know about the 45 minutes you are entitled to
52 if you work between the hours of 11.30 and 2.30?
53
54 MR. RAMPTON: I am sorry about that, but Mr. Cox said this
55 morning that he did know.
56
57 MR. MORRIS: He said 30 minutes is what would be allowed if you
58 worked between 11.00 and 3.00.
59
60 THE WITNESS: No, I said I would have taken 30 minutes if I had
