Day 116 - 26 Apr 95 - Page 26


     
     1
     2   Q.   715C.  It post dates your memorandum; you see that, do you
     3        not, Mr. Nicholson?
     4        A.  Yes, indeed.
     5
     6   Q.   It comes from Ms Louise Phillips who is Child Employment
     7        Officer at ILEA?
     8        A.  Yes.
     9
    10   Q.   It says:  "Dear Miss Flatley, we are very pleased to note
    11        from your letter sent to Mr. MacParland, another Child
    12        Employment Officer in ILEA, Division 9, that McDonald's may
    13        now be considering employing school age pupils for
    14        part-time work.  We are always pleased to see new
    15        opportunities for young people with responsible
    16        employers".
    17
    18        A question there:  Had you suddenly said to yourselves: "We
    19        ought to be employing school aged, school leaving children
    20        as part-time employees", do you think?
    21        A.  I think we had considered it.  I think we were asked to
    22        consider it.
    23
    24   Q.   Asked to consider it by whom, do you think?
    25        A.  The Operations Department.
    26
    27   Q.   But it is the next paragraph I am interested in:  "However,
    28        I should like to bring to your attention some information
    29        that was very recently made known to me on a visit to a
    30        Secondary School in Hackney.  One of the fourth year pupils
    31        at the school claimed that she had worked for a local
    32        McDonald's (and may still do) being employed quite late in
    33        the evening and without a work permit.  She apparently used
    34        her mother's DHSS number and presumably lied about her
    35        age.  I have no reason to doubt this information."   Do you
    36        know anything about that particular case yourself?
    37        A.  No, I do not.
    38
    39   Q.   The question I have is this:  Is that sort of thing, or was
    40        it, a recurrent problem, children lying about their age to
    41        get a job at McDonald's, do you think?
    42        A.  I do not think so.
    43
    44   Q.   Finally on this question, Mr. Nicholson -- there is no need
    45        for you to get out another bundle -- my Lord, this is the
    46        passage which is now numbered 59 in the Abstract.  It is on
    47        page 23 of tab 7, my Lord.  I will read it out to you,
    48        Mr. Nicholson, and then ask you what you say about it.  It
    49        reads as follows:
    50 
    51        "The Defendants will also rely on am admission" and it is 
    52        so described, "by Joanna Blackett, Senior Personnel field 
    53        Manager for McDonald's in March 1987, that it was an
    54        exception for employees to work more than 39 hours, but
    55        that in rare circumstances they might have to and they
    56        would not then get any extra overtime rate."
    57
    58        Leaving aside the bit about overtime -- we will come back
    59        to that -- does that or does that not seem to you a fair
    60        statement by Joanna Blackett?

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