Day 137 - 19 Jun 95 - Page 38
1 benefit programmes.
2
3 Q. What is the staff canteen at Oak Brook? What sort of an
4 establishment is it?
5 A. Our lunch facility?
6
7 Q. Yes, what is it?
8 A. It is a McDonald's Restaurant.
9
10 Q. It is a McDonald's Restaurant. Do you get free food there?
11 A. No, I do not.
12
13 Q. One thing I do want to ask you about while we are on rates
14 of pay: You have told us that there is no uniform starting
15 rate?
16 A. That is correct.
17
18 Q. Are the starting rates at McDonald's in America in any
19 sense related to the age of the person?
20 A. No, they are not. Your pay would vary, based upon
21 experience and qualifications, but it is not age-rated
22 whatsoever.
23
24 Q. What is the youngest age by law in America at which it is
25 permissible for McDonald's to employ people?
26 A. 14.
27
28 Q. If I go to McDonald's, I am 54 odd, and I apply for my
29 first job with no previous experience?
30 A. At age 54?
31
32 Q. Yes, and somebody else goes at the same time aged 14 or 15,
33 again with no experience, can I expect to get more than he
34 or she does?
35 A. No, not at all. If you have no experience, no, you
36 would get the same as the 14 year old.
37
38 Q. Another thing, perhaps a related topic: Is there or was
39 there something in the United States called the subminimum
40 rate?
41 A. Yes, I am aware of the term and aware that under the
42 Federal laws in the United States there is a subminimum
43 wage.
44
45 Q. So if the Federal Government says that for this year the
46 minimum rate for the job is, let us say, $4.5 dollars -- it
47 might be -- what is at the moment, do you know?
48 A. I am sorry?
49
50 Q. Do you know what the Federal minimum wage is ---
51 A. Oh, yes.
52
53 Q. -- at the moment?
54 A. Four and a quarter.
55
56 Q. Four and a quarter?
57 A. Right.
58
59 Q. That is for general purposes?
60 A. Yes, it is the minimum, absolute minimum.
