Day 170 - 05 Oct 95 - Page 11
1 to work on normal duties?
2 A. Yes.
3
4 Q. Yes, she would?
5 A. She could -- there are certain parts of the store that
6 she could work.
7
8 Q. Which parts of the store ---
9 A. In the dining area.
10
11 Q. -- which jobs could she be designated for?
12 A. In the dining area.
13
14 Q. That is lobby hostess, is it?
15 A. Yes -- no, that is just working in the dining area.
16
17 Q. Right. Can I have some guidance?
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
20
21 MR. MORRIS: Do we need to go into all the phone calls, and who
22 spoke to who?
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: In fact, I was going to volunteer to you,
25 I do not think that will help me on the general panorama of
26 this case because probably whether one party or the other
27 or both behaved in a way which, on reflection, they might
28 regret is unlikely to help me as to what general work
29 conditions are like at McDonald's.
30
31 What you should ask about is any question which you think
32 may help on what seems to me to be the main thrust of this
33 part of the case, whether or not she was on the payroll as
34 a part-time worker, Melanie O'Riordon was working full-time
35 at the time. If she is going to be paid her pay during a
36 period of only a few weeks when she was off work, you say:
37 "Well, she should have been paid full-time hours, not just
38 on the basis of part-time", and that it is penny pinching
39 just to pay part-time hours if, in fact, she was paid at
40 all rather than full-time hours.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: Our case will be that she was not paid at all.
43
44 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Maybe, but if it turned out that she was, for
45 instance, you would still have the argument which I have
46 just put to you.
47
48 The other thing is whether the slip was because something
49 was on the floor or not may strengthen your argument in
50 that respect, that if she slipped on something on the
51 floor, whether or not that was negligent of McDonald's or
52 it might have been spilled not long before and they had
53 time to clear it up or not, may or may not be important.
54 I do not see why we should get involved in that either.
55
56 MR. MORRIS: The witness has put her case on that and we will
57 see when our witness comes.
58
59 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. You will, no doubt, argue that although
60 she thinks she saw it, she had no reason to look
