Day 303 - 19 Nov 96 - Page 14
1 the taxation side, did not have anybody dealing with
2 overtime matters, which was staggering considering that
3 such a large percentage worked overtime and were not
4 getting paid for it. Obviously, if they had someone
5 responsible for overtime they would have had to have seen
6 and monitored a massive breach of the law continuously
7 throughout the whole period.
8
9 I think that is... Basically, it turned out as regards the
10 -- I am confused about this one thing. I was going to ask
11 Mr. Pearson when the overtime provision came in, I presume
12 it applied. It was the law under the wage councils for
13 decades before the period that we have specifically been
14 looking at, and one point she said, for example, on the top
15 of page 35, day 259...
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
18
19 MR. MORRIS: "It was not my job to pass information on to
20 Mr. Mills, it was Mr. Mills' job to come and investigate if
21 a crew member made a complaint". Then on page 54, she
22 says, "Mr. Mills came to us to investigate" -- this is at
23 line 49 -- "we did not go to him to ask him about something
24 that perhaps a crew member had complained about because, as
25 I have explained to you before, the procedure was for crew
26 members unhappy about something he would go to his
27 immediate superior who would then put it right". So, it
28 seems contradictory to me.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Surely, all that is coming out of it was that
31 McDonald's, she was saying McDonald's, did, at least they
32 should have, investigate any complaints which were made to
33 them by employees, but they do not then say to the
34 Inspectorate "We have had a complaint from one of our
35 employees, would you like to look into it", but if a
36 complaint is made to the authorities by an employee of
37 McDonald's then Mr. Mills or someone like him might come
38 along and look into it. But was there any more than that
39 to it?
40
41 MR. MORRIS: I do not know how much weight, if any, is going to
42 be given to this. I actually made substantial notes on it
43 because if this is going to be given any weight at all,
44 which I say it should not be, then it needs to be read
45 carefully, and all the contradictions and inadequacies --
46 I am not criticising Denise Pearce, specifically, but ----
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What you say is that the statutory
49 provisions, if I look at them, and I will have to see
50 whether I do or not -----
51
52 MR. MORRIS: For example she-----
53
54 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just listen a minute. Mean that you actually
55 have to pay time and a half, or whatever, you do not abide
56 by them, if at the end of the day the wages which were paid
57 come to at least the sum of the minimum at all the rates,
58 basic time and a half and everything else, McDonald's
59 argue, and I will have to see what Mr. Rampton puts before
60 me, that that is wrong provided you end up at the end of
