Day 121 - 04 May 95 - Page 17
1
2 MS. STEEL: Can I just clarify something? If a crew member was
3 scheduled to work certain hours and they said they did not
4 want to work beyond those hours, and the Manager said to
5 them: "Well, I am telling you you have to stay because we
6 have not finished the close yet", if the crew member then
7 left, would they be sacked for that? Could they be sacked
8 for that?
9 A. I would not have thought so. I see nothing to be
10 gained by sacking them if they are good workers. It may
11 cause some discontent between the Manager concerned and the
12 crew person concerned, but if they are good workers, why on
13 earth sack them?
14
15 Q. For disobeying an order, or whatever you want to call it?
16 A. Well, it would be for the Manager on duty at the time
17 to make that assessment, but I do not see the point -- we
18 are not a company who rushes into sacking our people.
19
20 Q. OK. Discipline then, would they be disciplined ---
21 A. It depends upon the circumstances.
22
23 Q. -- for disobeying an instruction?
24 A. He may or she may, and there again they may not; it
25 depends upon the circumstances. There is no hard and fast
26 rule laid down.
27
28 Q. Do you think it would be acceptable to discipline a crew
29 member for leaving at the time when they were scheduled to
30 leave if they disobeyed an instruction from the Shift
31 Manager to stay later to help clear up?
32 A. I think it would be an inappropriate line of action to
33 take if they wanted to leave when they had been scheduled
34 to work.
35
36 Q. Yes. Do you think it is acceptable though?
37 A. It depends upon the circumstances in which it was said.
38
39 Q. In some circumstances you would -----
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Saying it is inappropriate is another way of
42 saying it is unacceptable, but -----
43
44 MISS STEEL: Would you agree with that, it is unacceptable?
45
46 MR. JUSTICE BELL: All you are being asked is if someone has
47 been led to believe that their period of work ends at such
48 and such a time and, let us suppose for a moment, that if a
49 close normally takes an hour or an hour and a half, and
50 they know when their shift ends, so they can add an hour
51 and a half to that and know when they can expect to go, if
52 it turned out that the Manager wanted them to stay later
53 and they said: "Look, I really cannot stay later, I have
54 to go", and they went, and they were disciplined for that?
55 A. I would think that was inappropriate action.
56
57 Q. The difficulty I am having with this cross-examination, at
58 the moment, is what you are saying that there are no
59 arbitrary rules about things, you look into the
60 circumstances ---
