Day 116 - 26 Apr 95 - Page 25
1 school leaving age?
2 A. Yes.
3
4 Q. If you turn to page 715D, you should have a memo. If you
5 look at the next page it has a signature over your name.
6 Is that your actual signature?
7 A. Yes, everyone is -----
8
9 Q. Does it just say "Sid"?
10 A. Yes, everyone in McDonald's is referred to by their
11 first name only.
12
13 Q. I see. In case any licensee did not know who you were, you
14 were actually identified on the first page?
15 A. They would know who I was.
16
17 Q. Do you see that it is dated 26th January 1989?
18 A. Yes, I do.
19
20 Q. You say: "It has come to attention that some licensees are
21 employing children under school leaving age, i.e. under 16,
22 and I thought it might be helpful if I pointed out the
23 requirement to be observed", et cetera, "under the Children
24 and Young Persons Act 1933 when employing such children".
25 Then you set them out and you say at the bottom of the
26 page: You have to be aware that there are local
27 restrictions as well or there may be?
28 A. Yes.
29
30 Q. Local authority restrictions. Then over the page you give
31 them a warning, 715E: "Please be assured that local
32 government enforce these regulations most rigorously and
33 any contravention will almost certainly lead to a
34 prosecution"?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. There is only one other thing on that -- first, a general
38 question: Had it come to your attention that some
39 licensees were doing that?
40 A. Yes. I believe the Senior field Services Officer --
41 field Services is a department that is responsible for
42 ensuring licensees, franchisees, conform to the regulations
43 of the company -- and he had come to me and said that in
44 the course of a visit he was concerned that a licensee or a
45 franchisee had, in fact -- he had found that they had, in
46 fact, employed children of under school leaving age. He
47 asked if I would bring it to their attention that we found
48 this unacceptable. Therefore, I sent out this memo to all
49 of our franchisees for their information.
50
51 Q. So was there a prosecution on that case or not?
52 A. No.
53
54 Q. Was there a threat of a prosecution?
55 A. No, no, it was found internally.
56
57 Q. Would you turn backwards, in fact, to page 715C which is a
58 letter of 16th March 1989 from the ILEA to Carmel Flatley?
59 Do you see that?
60 A. Yes I do.
