Day 180 - 31 Oct 95 - Page 49
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2 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There may not be, you see. He started off
3 with "the general pattern". Yes?
4 A. The general pattern would be as the statistics in my
5 own evidence -- paragraph 21, I believe it was ---
6
7 Q. Yes.
8 A. -- where we had the rounded up to 38 hour week, 37.7,
9 1994.
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11 MR. MORRIS: Sorry. Maybe I am not asking my questions very
12 clearly.
13 A. I am answering your question in two parts.
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15 Q. OK.
16 A. The general pattern of the working week -- end of
17 paragraph 21 -- Britain's average working week is 38 hours;
18 and, across industry, the typical pattern is to achieve an
19 overtime rate beyond about that figure. It would be
20 slightly lower in the public sector, slightly higher in
21 manufacturing.
22
23 Q. In terms of the number hours where it starts?
24 A. Yes.
25
26 Q. What about the rates, the actual percentage?
27 A. The usual threshold for overtime is in the window of
28 37 to 39, and the overtime premium is usually between one
29 and a quarter and one and a half the basic rate.
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31 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Just pause. (Pause) Yes.
32 A. So, with a pattern of a basic of 37 to 39 and an
33 overtime usually time and a quarter to time and a half.
34 Then if you were to look at the Catering Review Group
35 companies, for example, they would all still, even despite
36 a wages council abolition, they would tend to have a
37 full-time week of around 39 hours, and then a time and a
38 half premium, even though it is now entirely voluntary --
39 an overtime premium of time and a half, even though it is
40 now voluntary.
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42 MR. MORRIS: What is your expert view on overtime payments?
43 Never mind what the norm is or what the statutory rights
44 are; what is your view as an expert?
45 A. In two parts: one, overtime should be paid to reward
46 long hours; that is the kind of affirmative side of
47 overtime; it should be paid as a reward for excessive
48 hours. But, to the negative of that, you would say long
49 hours should be discouraged, because they are associated --
50 long hours are associated with high absence rates through
51 sickness; they are associated with unsafe working and
52 stress, and other factors. So, you know, I answer that in
53 two parts: one is to reward it; on the other hand, to
54 discourage it.
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56 Of course, in low paid sectors, the temptation obviously
57 is, from the employee's perspective, to work that which is
58 on offer and sometimes without choice. So you do get long
59 hours in low paid sectors.
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