Day 151 - 10 Jul 95 - Page 29
1
2 Q. It was a blatant disregard of the Company policy, was it
3 not?
4 A. Absolutely not.
5
6 Q. Not?
7 A. A blatant disregard for the Company policy?
8
9 Q. Yes -- crew working, on a regular basis, more than 39 hours
10 a week?
11 A. One person, whose circumstances I cannot directly
12 remember. I remember Siamak was a training squad, but the
13 circumstances which caused him to work more than the 39
14 I cannot remember. But to suggest that it is symptomatic
15 of me having a blatant disregard for any policy -----
16
17 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The question was that him working those hours
18 would be a blatant disregard, whoever was responsible for
19 that.
20 A. Absolutely not.
21
22 MISS STEEL: So it would not be a problem?
23 A. It would be a problem; and if I could remember that
24 I dealt with it, I would love to say that I could.
25 I cannot remember if that was something that caught my
26 eye. If you are asking me whether or not I was diligent
27 enough to check those records, I can reply, yes, I was
28 wholeheartedly 100 per cent diligent in checking those
29 records.
30
31 Q. You did not just check Mr. Alimi's payslips, presumably, or
32 records?
33 A. I did not check anybody's payslips.
34
35 Q. You did not just check Mr. Alimi's records?
36 A. I checked -- I think the system I used in terms of the
37 payroll was to probably check it once a month; so one out
38 of two, one out of three payrolls.
39
40 Q. So if you cannot remember this happening with Mr. Alimi, it
41 could well be, could it not, that it was happening with
42 other crew?
43 A. Equally, I suppose you could say that in subsequent
44 weeks, 28th June, 23rd August, when his hours go down,
45 I may well have acted upon it. It is pure supposition.
46 I cannot remember. But if you want to take the logical
47 argument that I had a disregard for it, then maybe I can
48 say that I had -- maybe I did have a regard for it, and
49 these subsequent lower hours are an indication of my
50 subsequent actions or discussions with the store manager.
51
52 Q. But you would accept that if you cannot remember this at
53 the time, you cannot remember this incident of Mr. Alimi
54 regularly working more than 39 hours, it may well be that
55 there were other crew doing exactly the same who you also
56 cannot remember about?
57 A. I would say that in terms of my checking of the records
58 that there had been a widespread inherent problem at the
59 Colchester restaurants with people regularly working over
60 the hours, then I would have dealt with it; and if one
