Day 167 - 02 Oct 95 - Page 39
1 Manager or First Assistant Manager, to ensure that they
2 coincide with the labour matrix. The matrix is prepared
3 for the restaurant by the Store Manager, sometimes in
4 conjunction with the First Assistant Manager and is based
5 in part on the budget. Schedules may be checked by the
6 Area Supervisor on occasional visits, but must be seen by
7 him/her as part of the quarterly audit. Although there is
8 no specific Company rule that schedules must be retained,
9 Bath has a policy of storing them for 18 months before
10 disposing of them". Mr. Richards, do you stand by your
11 statement so far?
12 A. I do.
13
14 Q. "Overtime: The figures said by Logan to represent evening
15 and night shift rates of pay were correct at the time of
16 his employment, but have since been combined into a single
17 basic rate of £3.20 per hour with an extra 15p for every
18 hour worked after 7 p.m. However, his comments concerning
19 overtime do not accord with my recollection. Employees
20 often work extra hours by request, but are never forced to
21 do so. It is untrue that schedules were based on an eight
22 day week. As long as I have worked for McDonald's,
23 schedules have always been drawn up on the basis of a seven
24 day week. Furthermore, steps are always taken to ensure
25 that an efficient recruitment programme is in place, so
26 that no-one needs to work more than 39 hours a week unless
27 they choose to do so.
28
29 Clock-cards: Logan is correct to say that Managers would
30 sometimes alter employees' clock-cards. However, this
31 would only occur where the employee had forgotten to clock
32 in or out and any changes would be registered on the Husky
33 Hunter computer system which has been in place at Bath
34 since around 1989. This is a self-contained payroll unit,
35 linked by a modem to the payroll department at Head Office
36 and also linked into the store's computer. Each crew
37 member has their own bar code. Changes can only be
38 effected by the Manager entering his personal code, which
39 is then shown on the printout. All such entries must be
40 signed by the Manager concerned and by a witnessing
41 Manager. These records are checked frequently by a
42 salaried Manager and by the Area Supervisor and must be
43 seen as part of the Supervisor's quarterly audit.
44 Employees can ask to see their clockcard reports at any
45 time.
46
47 There is a 'payroll surgery' every fortnight, run by an
48 Administration Assistant, at which queries may be raised.
49 Furthermore, details of hours worked and paid appear on the
50 employees' payslips. I have never known any Manager to use
51 the clockcard as a way of punishing an employee for failing
52 to take a break nor for reducing labour costs. This would
53 amount to gross misconduct.
54
55 Breaks: My experience of McDonald's attitude to breaks
56 does not accord with Michael Logan's account. A Manager
57 might ask his staff if they are willing to divide their
58 break during a busy period, but it would be very rare to
59 ask someone to miss their break entirely. Moreover, the
60 absence of a break would appear on the clockcard record and
