Day 124 - 10 May 95 - Page 51


     
     1        do that.  But to indiscriminately work employees overtime,
     2        that is a waste, that would be a waste of labour.  So as a
     3        general rule ---
     4
     5   Q.   A waste, what, to be paying people ----
     6        A.  -- as a general rule, we would not want to see that
     7        kind of indiscriminate waste but, where appropriate, where
     8        necessary, if it makes good business sense to do so, then
     9        we would -- certainly the store manager would have a
    10        latitude to make that decision.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why would it be a waste of labour
    13        indiscriminately, as you described it, to work overtime?
    14        A.  OK.  Let me try to answer that by an example:  If you
    15        had a choice of staffing your restaurant, let us say,
    16        Wednesday evening with five people and you had 10 people to
    17        choose from, if three of those individuals -- and you just
    18        needed five out of the 10 -- if three of those individuals
    19        had already worked enough hours, that any additional hours
    20        it would be overtime, and you could clearly staff your
    21        restaurant properly with five individuals that had not
    22        exceeded overtime, then that would be the appropriate
    23        decision to use those five people and not the three people
    24        that would go an overtime status.
    25
    26   MR. MORRIS:  So, you have to pay people more money, do you, for
    27        overtime?
    28        A.  You pay people more time for -- more money for
    29        overtime, yes.
    30
    31   Q.   Is that the law in America, if someone works over 40 hours
    32        then they have to get overtime payments?
    33        A.  They get overtime and in some cases, in some
    34        industries, they get, you know, it is double time.  There
    35        is a premium.  There is a premium paid for working over a
    36        certain number of hours, whether it is 37 and a half or 40;
    37        it varies depending upon the industry.
    38
    39   Q.   So is that a fair law, in your opinion, in terms of
    40        protecting workers that do work longer hours than 40 or 39
    41        hours?
    42        A.  I think it is -- a personal opinion?
    43
    44   Q.   Yes.
    45        A.  I think it is fair.
    46
    47   Q.   It is fair.  I mean fair for the employees.  Whether the
    48        employer likes it, it is fair for the employees?
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is the way I have understood it. 
    51 
    52   MR. MORRIS:  Yes.  (To the witness):  You said in your statement 
    53        that you can recall some incidents, a few incidents, of
    54        staff discontent in the Washington area just before you
    55        were promoted to Area Supervisor.  Could you give us some
    56        examples of staff discontent that you were aware of?
    57        A.  You are referring to a previous statement?
    58
    59   Q.   Sorry, paragraph 6.
    60

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