Day 152 - 11 Jul 95 - Page 79
1
2 Q. --- if it had been committed?
3 A. That is right. It did not physically ----
4
5 Q. Unless one took steps to get around the system.
6 A. Yes, although I cannot imagine what steps.
7
8 Q. Well, clocking out at 10 and having some other arrangement
9 on the side.
10 A. Sure.
11
12 MR. MORRIS: Exactly, it would not stop people clocking out at
13 the correct time and then carrying on working if some other
14 system had been brought in and, likewise, the computer
15 system since 1990 which will not let workers be scheduled
16 at an illegal time, again would not stop people working
17 beyond their scheduled time as long as some system for
18 remuneration be worked out that did not ----
19 A. Where would this system for remuneration come from?
20 I cannot think ----
21
22 Q. Mr. Gidney certainly puts up one particular system for
23 that.
24 A. That is under the old method, the old clock cards.
25 With the computerised system you cannot just input extra
26 hours willy-nilly. You cannot physically do it. The reason
27 we do it by computer is the crew member is the only person
28 who is allowed to use their clocking in or clocking out
29 card.
30
31 Q. Why was this what you say effective, special system brought
32 in to prevent illegal working at McDonald's?
33 A. Why was it brought in?
34
35 Q. Yes. Did you see any memos about it and why it was being
36 introduced?
37 A. I mean the usage was -- first of all, the Husky was
38 brought in because there was a twofold benefit. The main
39 benefit being that we did not have to manually do the
40 payroll every other week, so the Husky generated the
41 payroll by means of the modem down to Head Office and then
42 obviously it took out the need for a Manager (A) to total
43 up the clock cards every night and (B) to spend two and a
44 half hours on a Sunday morning entering the payroll.
45
46 Q. Yes, but why ----
47 A. That was the primary reason. There is a secondary
48 benefit. The secondary benefit was it was easier to monitor
49 any contraventions of company policy because it just
50 appeared at Head Office and in the restaurant. So that was
51 a by-product of the need for, you know, better technology
52 coming in. It was not brought in because there was a
53 specific problem.
54
55 Q. The point is, Mr. Davis, there was a problem, whether it is
56 a problem now is not the question, but there was a problem,
57 was there not, in the 1980s of young people being worked
58 illegal hours by McDonald's?
59 A. Certainly not in my experience. There was a lot of
60 checks and balances within the restaurant which meant that
