Day 153 - 12 Jul 95 - Page 39
1 told me, I would have assumed.
2
3 Q. Or she might have dealt with it herself?
4 A. It depends how frequent it was. If it was just a
5 one-off complaint, then she may well have dealt with it
6 herself, but if, as you are alleging, it was a frequent
7 occurrence, then I would have assumed she would have told
8 me.
9
10 Q. You would assume that she would have told you?
11 A. Oh, she would have told me.
12
13 Q. She should have told you?
14 A. She would have told me.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What was your relationship with Mr. Alimi?
17 Was there any difficulty in talking to each other?
18 A. No. We used to get on quite well, as I remember.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: In paragraph 34, second line, you say: "It is true
21 to say that people sometimes work double shifts." Is that
22 correct?
23 A. Yes -- very rarely.
24
25 Q. Sometimes?
26 A. Sometimes, but rarely.
27
28 Q. "This was because the employee concerned requested to do so
29 because they wanted extra pay." Is that correct?
30 A. That is correct, yes.
31
32 Q. So every single time that people worked double shifts, your
33 recollection was that it was because they wanted extra pay?
34 A. Yes, they would request it.
35
36 Q. What action did you take (if any) to prevent this double
37 shift working?
38 A. I used to actively discourage it. If somebody came and
39 requested to work a double shift, it depended on who the
40 person was and whether I felt they were capable of doing
41 it, then I may have complied with that request. However,
42 it would not have been the norm. It was not something that
43 I actively encouraged, and it is not something that I would
44 consider was particularly helpful to the restaurant. The
45 instances that I can remember would have been students who
46 wanted to earn extra money during their holiday time to
47 tide them through their term time.
48
49 Q. So that was a common situation, that the students that
50 worked at that store would have to save up money to last
51 through when they were not able or available to work?
52 A. Quite often, the students would work in the holiday
53 times and then, say they went away to college, I do not
54 know, wherever it was, in Glasgow or Edinburgh or wherever
55 the college was, they may not work at the place they were
56 going to. They might choose not to. So they could -----
57
58 Q. And McDonald's took advantage of that section of the
59 population to get them to work sometimes long hours?
60 A. I think I would term it as a mutually agreeable work
