Day 143 - 27 Jun 95 - Page 28
1 Q. At the rate at which they left?
2 A. Mmm, or whatever is agreed to at that time.
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Is the half hour lunch break normal in the
5 States?
6 A. Yes, my Lord. It can be -- it depends upon -- half
7 hour is normal. I have seen some states indicate 20
8 minutes. But, commonly speaking, half hour is about -- is
9 normal.
10
11 Q. So is more than half an hour unusual?
12 A. In an office environment, my Lord, it generally tends
13 to be longer than that, may be an hour.
14
15 Q. But in McDonald's stores?
16 A. In retailing stores, generally, my Lord, I would
17 understand it to be about a half hour.
18
19 MS. STEEL: Can I just ask one further thing about meal breaks?
20 Are crew allowed to bring their own food into the store?
21 A. Yes, they are. If you will, my Lord, can I just finish
22 the answer to my Lord?
23
24 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
25 A. A lot of the reasoning behind the difference between
26 the office and the restaurants, if you will, my Lord, is
27 that most employees who work in an office have to go out to
28 get their food, and it takes them a fair amount of time;
29 whereas in McDonald's environment, their food is there.
30 They can go right to their crew room and have their break.
31 They generally do not punch out until they have actually
32 gotten their food and are ready to go to the crew room.
33
34 MS. STEEL: So they do punch out during the lunch break?
35 A. Yes, they do. That is to make sure we are complying
36 with all the laws.
37
38 Q. So they are not going to get paid for their break?
39 A. No, you have to indicate under laws that they got a
40 continuous period of time for their break.
41
42 Q. Right.
43 A. And that is, if you do not have a document, if you do
44 not have it documented on the time card, then the state
45 authorities, or whatever it is, then says: "Well, if they
46 did not get their break, you have no evidence, if you
47 will".
48
49 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I understand that, but what is being put to
50 you, suppose you punch out at 12 noon and punch in again at
51 12.30, that means you can demonstrate that there was a
52 break in what would have otherwise been the continuous
53 hours's work but do you get paid for that half hour?
54 A. Yes, my Lord. Everything that I have ever seen, we pay
55 in the McOpco environment. Some operators may not, my
56 Lord, but generally in the McOpco environment, that is what
57 I have seen.
58
59 MS. STEEL: Why do they get paid for the lunch breaks?
60 A. It has just become part of the practice. You have them
