Day 120 - 03 May 95 - Page 60


     
     1        was a misuse of the wages system.  That is the kind of
     2        thing they would examine.  That would be highlighted in the
     3        Payroll Department.
     4
     5   Q.   Would anyone analyse that for common themes across the
     6        country?
     7        A.  Yes.
     8
     9   Q.   Have you seen anything arising, any report arising, out of
    10        that?
    11        A.  No.
    12
    13   Q.   Indicating that either everything was okay or that there
    14        was a problem?
    15        A.  No, I just simply read the report.  There was very
    16        little in the report that affected me.  I read the report
    17        for various reasons, but there were people who were more
    18        directly involved.  Payroll people, Finance people, they
    19        would look at it because that would be a misuse of funds.
    20
    21   Q.   So it would be a Personnel -----
    22        A.  And an Operational matter because they are concerned
    23        about the finances of the restaurants.
    24
    25   Q.   But it would be a Personnel matter as well, would it not?
    26        A.  If it was highlighted in the way that suggests it was a
    27        Personnel matter, it would be.
    28
    29   Q.   If staff had been under-paid or worked too many hours or
    30        had not been paid?
    31        A.  We have already been through that, that is there, the
    32        number of hours they work.  That is there.  That is a
    33        separate report.  It would be very difficult, in my mind,
    34        to falsify payroll accounts.  It must be picked up under
    35        the system within the Payroll Department.
    36
    37   Q.   Managers are allowed to pay bonuses at their discretion,
    38        are they not?
    39        A.  Yes, that is checked by this audit team.
    40
    41   Q.   But they could pay a bonus, say, it was for hard work and
    42        it could be because a woman who was 16 stayed on until 3.00
    43        in the morning?
    44        A.  Well, there is nothing we can do about that.  We try to
    45        eliminate it and I am not sure that it never happens.  I
    46        have certainly never had it reported to me.
    47
    48   Q.   Basically, you would not really know unless someone came
    49        and confessed all?
    50        A.  I feel the mechanisms are such that that kind of thing 
    51        would be picked up. 
    52 
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Let us have our break now.
    54
    55                          (Short adjournment)
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  Mr. Nicholson, I want to go through the pleadings
    58        under Employment Practices with you as it may be relevant
    59        to your position.  I do not know if the new ones with
    60        paragraphs on them are available for the witness box?

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