Day 118 - 01 May 95 - Page 18
1 least one quarter more than the minimum rate because of the
2 hour of the day or night it was, and then, having got to
3 that figure, pay one half as much again because it was
4 overtime?
5 A. I am sorry, suggested to me by whom?
6
7 Q. Was it ever suggested to you, suppose you got a man who was
8 working through the night?
9 A. Yes Night Closer.
10
11 Q. He had already worked 39 hours so those were not only
12 uncongenial hours, they were overtime hours as well, it was
13 not suggested to you that in accordance with the Wages
14 Council, or let us suppose his wage was, just to take a
15 figure, normal wage was £4 an hour, that you should pay an
16 extra 50p on top -- I am sorry an extra pound on top
17 because it was the middle of the night which would give you
18 £5, and then you should pay half as much again because it
19 was overtime? Let us suppose £4 was the minimum hourly
20 rate, just to take a figure.
21 A. It has never been suggested to me that that should be
22 done, but what would happen in fact is the manager before
23 asking that person to work his overtime, would be aware of
24 what his hourly rate was, and he would know if he was in
25 danger of not reaching the minimum he would authorise the
26 payment of extra money to that person.
27
28 MS. STEEL: You say that you pay the workers extra money --
29 performance related pay?
30 A. Yes.
31
32 Q. Effectively, using your system, if the workers worked
33 overtime they would not get any performance related pay,
34 would they, because they would just get this?
35 A. That is why we have a policy of discouraging people
36 working overtime.
37
38 Q. What is this policy of discouraging people working
39 overtime?
40 A. That is the policy.
41
42 Q. Yes, but where is that written, and how is it put into
43 effect?
44 A. I am not sure it is written. It will certainly be
45 introduced in the Human Resource presentation to managers
46 in the various training courses. Everyone is quite well
47 aware that our policy is not to pay overtime. Everyone is
48 quite well aware that we discourage workers being asked to
49 work more than 39 hours. Now, there will be occasions of
50 course there be occasions, on which they have to ask people
51 to work over 39 hours, and it is incumbent upon that
52 Restaurant Manager to ensure that he does not contravene
53 the Wages Council order.
54
55 Q. They are not rare occasions though, are they?
56 A. They are fairly rare.
57
58 Q. When workers have to work ----
59 A. Large hours are fairly rare.
60
