Day 154 - 13 Jul 95 - Page 49
1 MR. RAMPTON: I am sorry about that. I know your Lordship had
2 it because your Lordship drew attention to it.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I did have it, but it does not appear to be
5 there. That is all. So I will put that behind -- I was
6 looking at it only yesterday, wherever it is.
7
8 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, I know you were, yes. (To the witness):
9 Mr. Davis, I can tell you, if this is a full complement, a
10 complete account, of the names on the payroll both under
11 and 18 on these two pages ---
12 A. Yes.
13
14 Q. -- the total number on the payroll at Orpington in that
15 time was 48; three people were off for the whole of that
16 week -- I think it is only three -- which makes just over
17 six per cent of payroll. Yes?
18 A. Yes.
19
20 Q. My question is this: Assuming you also, as I think you
21 have told us you did have, have people at Colchester who
22 would go missing for one reason or another, it might be a
23 holiday, it might be sickness?
24 A. Holidays, sickness, leave of absence.
25
26 Q. I was going to ask you, what other sorts of things would
27 account for somebody being missing from the payroll,
28 although they had not left the Company, during the course
29 of the week?
30 A. Maybe if, say, a student wanted to take three weeks off
31 because it was coming up to their exams, but you knew they
32 were going to come back in a couple of weeks.
33
34 Q. In those circumstances, would you leave them on the
35 payroll?
36 A. Oh, yes.
37
38 Q. I think you may have dealt with this in your
39 evidence-in-chief, I am not sure, I may be muddled because,
40 as his Lordship said, it is late and it is extremely
41 hot; what about if a female worker, a mother with children,
42 said: "Look, I want to take 10 days off for the half time
43 with my children", or whatever it might be, "but I am
44 coming back at the end", would she be counted as a leaver
45 or would she stay on the payroll?
46 A. She would probably stay on the payroll or definitely
47 stay on the payroll.
48
49 Q. She would definitely?
50 A. Definitely.
51
52 Q. I should have asked this about Mr. Alimi, a regular
53 full-time worker, five days a week, who sometimes worked
54 certainly more than 90 hours in a fortnight and, therefore,
55 sometimes more than 39 hours in a week; did you ever notice
56 in him any signs of stress, of over-tiredness, of bad
57 temper, incompetence, inefficiency?
58 A. No, he generally worked to a high level and he was
59 generally happy and jovial within the restaurant.
60
