Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 53


     
     1   MS. STEEL:  You mean because they said the overtime rate did not
     2        apply?
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  No, because they were not applying an
     5        overtime rate?
     6        A.  Because they were not applying any overtime, they were
     7        not applying statute, because they were not applying
     8        statutory overtime provisions, then, you know, any evidence
     9        of any kind, any evidence of long hours, would suggest, you
    10        know, a kind of willy-nilly, I mean, whatever, by accident
    11        or even just simply leave it at by accident, statutory
    12        provisions were not being enforced.  This would be a kind
    13        of prima facie conclusion to arrive at, and the survey
    14        methods of wages inspectors might well not ever have
    15        identified this problem and, indeed, you know, from a trade
    16        union perspective we were always concerned about the
    17        under-resourcing of the Inspectorate and that this kind of
    18        situation may prevail.
    19
    20        My only word of caution I would like to make from this
    21        witness box in terms of what has just gone before is simply
    22        that there may be buried in all the evidence that has gone
    23        before, it may be that this point has been covered by the
    24        Company.  It may be that you have already received evidence
    25        that the wages inspectors have been through the books,
    26        etcetera.
    27
    28        What I am trying to do is to say that, as a Wages Council
    29        member, I was not aware of concerns raised by the
    30        Inspectorate in the mid-80s on this issue, and what I see
    31        now, what I see here, raises serious doubt in my mind as to
    32        whether remuneration policies met with statute, and of the
    33        many offences, of the various offences, identified under
    34        the Wages Act, failure to display Wages Council notices,
    35        failure to keep adequate records, failure to pay the
    36        appropriate remuneration were all offences punishable by
    37        fine or imprisonment.  I only say that to indicate the
    38        seriousness with which Parliament once viewed these
    39        matters.  It certainly did in the mid 80s when these
    40        matters were being considered.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  If you had got someone who is, essentially,
    43        working full-time, but the definition of full-time is that
    44        they normally work somewhere between 35 and 39 hours a
    45        week, but those hours can be allocated throughout the week,
    46        let us suppose it is normally five shifts on five days a
    47        week, but the five days may vary, how do you work out what
    48        would normally be a rest day?
    49        A.  That is a very good question, and it is the kind of
    50        bedevilling question that Wages Inspectors would have to 
    51        try to resolve. 
    52 
    53   Q.   So it can sometimes be difficult to establish what might
    54        qualify as a rest day and what might not?
    55        A.  What they would do, yes, it would be difficult.  What
    56        an inspector would do, their practice was to average out
    57        over a 13 week period the usual practice (and I should add
    58        that in the early to mid 80s, which is, effectively, the
    59        period under which, I suppose, in the end this action is
    60        taken, it was going on then), if you like, the flexing of

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