Day 118 - 01 May 95 - Page 42
1 problem?
2 A. No, we would still try to discourage. We would still
3 try to say to that manager: "Look, you must schedule". I
4 do not know what the causes were. Each case would be
5 looked at individually.
6
7 Q. You would not say to the store manager: "You ought to hire
8 some more staff so there is no need to" -----
9 A. That may not be the answer. The answer may have been
10 that he has had a run of no-shows. This is spread over a
11 year, over a year.
12
13 Q. Quite frequently though?
14 A. Oh, yes.
15
16 Q. Quite a number of occasions?
17 A. Yes, and if he has indicated that he is prepared to
18 work and he is the only person in the store who is earning
19 overtime. When we say we "discourage it", we are not a
20 rigid organisation, but certainly if that had been brought
21 to my attention I would have found out why it was
22 happening.
23
24 Q. Right, but you would not necessarily have done anything to
25 stop it?
26 A. It depends upon the circumstances.
27
28 Q. But you would not automatically have done anything to stop
29 it?
30 A. No. I would have found out why first. If the manager
31 had a good reason, then, clearly I would not have done
32 anything about it. If the manager did not have a good
33 reason, I would ask him why this man is working that kind
34 of overtime.
35
36 Q. So it is OK for managers to ignore company directions
37 about, you know, we -----
38 A. We do not know that he is ignoring it. We know that he
39 is allowing one person to work overtime several periods
40 during a year.
41
42 Q. Several periods for several weeks running?
43 A. Yes. Several periods for several weeks throughout that
44 year, but what the reasons are, I do not know. The manager
45 may very well have a perfectly good reason for doing that.
46
47 Q. You were Head of Personnel at the time. You did not ----
48 A. I do not know anything about this case, no.
49
50 Q. You did not look into this at all?
51 A. No, this was never brought to my attention. Can I just
52 explain? I was not just Head of Personnel. I was Head of
53 Franchising, Security and Personnel, so I did leave a lot
54 of what I would call "routine" personnel work to the
55 Personnel Field Officers. If they had something that was
56 really bothering them, they would bring that to my
57 attention. The tribunal normally covered my attention, but
58 again I did not look at all the tribunals.
59
60 Q. Are crew taken on as either full-time crew or part-time
