Day 259 - 10 Jun 96 - Page 36


     
     1   Q.   It was not routinely passed on to you that if store audits
     2        had discovered information showing that improper things
     3        were occurring or policies were not being followed, or
     4        whatever, that would routinely be passed on to you (sic)?
     5        A.  I would have seen sight of something like that, and if
     6        it had directly involved my department or the calculation
     7        of wages, I would have been asked to look at it.  But I do
     8        not remember any specific incident like that.
     9
    10   Q.   You do not remember any incident like that?
    11        A.  No.
    12
    13   Q.   OK.  Are you saying that you do not remember because you
    14        your memory is bad or because you do not think that you
    15        ever got any kind of information like that from store
    16        level?
    17        A.  My memory is very good about the period of time that
    18        I worked for McDonald's, so it is not through a memory
    19        lapse, no.  We did not have many complaints; and if there
    20        were any discrepancies, they were put right.
    21
    22   Q.   You do not know that, do you, because you would not know
    23        what other people were doing; you could only know what
    24        information you were receiving?
    25        A.  That is right.  It is a very large company -- even
    26        then.
    27
    28   Q.   That is right.  Did you have a responsibility for checking
    29        that -- if people were working, say, illegal hours, say
    30        under-18s were working past midnight, something like that,
    31        would that have come to your attention as payroll manager?
    32        A.  That did not come within my jurisdiction, no.  I was
    33        responsible for paying people correctly.  I was not at the
    34        store, so that was for the Store Manager.
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It seems to me that you ought to put the kind
    37        of incidents of things going wrong which you have in mind,
    38        and just ask Mrs. Pearce whether that would have come to
    39        her attention on reports.
    40
    41   MR. MORRIS:  What came to your attention about people failing to
    42        keep a proper record of hours worked?  You said you have a
    43        good memory of this time that you spent with McDonald's.
    44        How often did that come up, then?
    45        A.  Very infrequently.
    46
    47   Q.   It happened then, did it, that people were not keeping a
    48        proper record of hours?
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do you remember it happening? 
    51        A.  No, because records were kept -- if somebody was 
    52        incorrectly paid, then it was put right on the next 
    53        payroll.  It was never McDonald's intention to underpay
    54        anybody.  If they worked their hours, they were paid for
    55        it.
    56
    57   MR. MORRIS:  How do you know what happened at store level?
    58        A.  Because, ultimately, the crew member, if they were
    59        short, as in something had been missed off their payslip,
    60        they would look at the payslip and say, "Whoops, perhaps an

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