Day 203 - 12 Jan 96 - Page 62
1 this what you are saying -- is that you were going to give
2 him the shove whatever he said at this performance review,
3 whether or not he came up and he could have been a -----
4 A. I do not think that this implies I am going to give him
5 the shove anyway, because this is just a warning about poor
6 performance, which is not an irretrievable situation. OK?
7
8 At no time did I wish to get rid of Ray Coton or take
9 action which was consistent with -----
10
11 Q. Well, OK, give him a verbal warning?
12 A. Yes. This is to give the employee the opportunity to
13 improve their performance. At no time did I make it clear
14 to anybody that I wanted to get rid of Ray Coton, although
15 I would be lying if I said that at times it did not occur
16 to me, that my life would be easier and the store would be
17 run better if we had a more capable Manager running it.
18
19 Q. You had it in for Ray Coton and you were going to give him
20 a formal verbal warning after you had give him a PR review
21 in which you dressed him down?
22
23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It was not a formal verbal warning.
24
25 MS. STEEL: That is what it says here -- formal verbal warning.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let me understand. As I understand it, what
28 you are saying is that it all came to nothing because he
29 was away on holiday and when he came back he gave a letter
30 of resignation. Do I understand it correctly? You had
31 drafted a performance review which we are to assume was
32 very critical; you were going to go and see him when he
33 came back. You say that you might have amended the terms
34 of the performance review in the light of what he said?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. But what you were anticipating doing was handing him a
38 performance review and a letter, giving him a formal verbal
39 warning for his poor performance, and that 18th July
40 letter?
41 A. Yes, correct.
42
43 Q. And that what was in your mind was going to happen when he
44 came back from holiday?
45 A. Yes, sir.
46
47 MS. STEEL: That is what you decided you were going to do,
48 without talking to Mr. Coton to find out how things were
49 from his point of view; and you were going to do that
50 because you had it in for Ray Coton, did you not; you did
51 not like him?
52 A. There is lots of speculation in what you are saying. I
53 mean, you are telling me what I did. You were not there,
54 you know. I will -----
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There has been a suggestion. She is acting
57 as an advocate at the moment, Ms. Steel, and she is making
58 the suggestion to you.
59 A. OK. What I am saying, sir, is that Ray was aware of
60 how I felt about his performance, how John Atherton felt
