Day 208 - 24 Jan 96 - Page 42
1 worked between 11.00 and 3.00.
2
3 MR. RAMPTON: He said he was aware of the provision.
4
5 MR. MORRIS: This attitude of yours as a Manager in allowing
6 people to have less than their entitled breaks, is that
7 something that you have made up yourself, or is that
8 something which you were taught by the Company?
9 A. I have never actually been taught that by the Company.
10 I would say it was my own view on keeping the crew members
11 happy.
12
13 Q. So you have not been taught whether or not you should do
14 that; the Company has not educated you -----
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am going to stop this now, because you can
17 comment in due course when we know exactly what the
18 position is. I can see nothing wrong in something like an
19 eight hour shift with someone taking half an hour break
20 when they are entitled to three-quarters of an hour break,
21 if that is what their choice is, because, speaking for
22 myself, half an hour break in the middle of an eight hour
23 shift seems to me to be quite a decent break. If however,
24 it turns out that the law is that you must have a
25 three-quarter hour break in an eight hour period, then
26 I will defer to the wisdom of Parliament and may well take
27 a different attitude.
28
29 Before you make any further comment on it -- and I do not
30 really think you can ask this witness any more questions on
31 it usefully -- I need to know what the legal position is.
32 I do not think Mr. Cox can help any further on it. You
33 have asked him several questions about his attitude. With
34 all respect to him, he is not a senior Manager in charge of
35 policy.
36
37 MR. MORRIS: I have just asked him whether his position is what
38 the Company position is, what he was taught.
39
40 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not know whether he has the first idea
41 in his status of just what the Company policy is. You can
42 make a comment in due course, if you like, that he did not
43 know this and you say he ought to have done, whether it is
44 about the legal situation or the Company policy. But
45 I really think we have begun to go round in circles now.
46
47 MR. MORRIS: We are just trying to see if Mr. Cox's attitude is
48 just something that he made up. Can I ask him just one
49 general question?
50
51 (To the witness) At the Bath store, that would be the
52 general attitude of Managers, would it, to allow people to
53 get less than their break entitlement?
54 A. I cannot comment on other Managers' practices,
55 because -----
56
57 Q. You must know?
58 A. You work with the other Managers and you work as part
59 of a team, but you do not actually work in the same area.
60 So I could not tell you if the person -----
