Day 151 - 10 Jul 95 - Page 65
1 MR. MORRIS: I cannot remember where I saw it now. I thought it
2 was something -- it is either the law or it was ----
3
4 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest you do is you simply ----
5
6 MR. MORRIS: That is McDonald's position, is it not, people are
7 entitled to a certain amount of break depending on how long
8 they have been schedule for?
9 A. Right.
10
11 Q. Let us start from the beginning: Basically if people work
12 at MacDonald's for an 8 hour shift there will be some kind
13 of standard format for how much break they are entitled to?
14 A. Yes.
15
16 Q. Presumably if that break is cut, whether or not they get
17 paid for it, they might be upset about it?
18 A. I would suggest in terms of the manner in which it is
19 put is again important. If you are going from a legal
20 requirement to them being upset, then I am getting a bit
21 confused. Certainly if it happened all the time with an
22 alarming regularity, I guess any right minded individual
23 would find it annoying, but I guess people are very
24 balanced and would realise if it was a very rare
25 occurrence, then I am sure human nature being what it was
26 they would be more than willing to help out. But whether
27 it is a legal requirement I would again have to resort to
28 my human resources colleagues back in 1986.
29
30 Q. Did you say in your statement -- I think you did -- about
31 McDonald's freedom fighters, that it was before your time,
32 I think you said? This was at Colchester.
33 A. At paragraph 4 on page 227 of my initial statement,
34 I said: "I have no knowledge of the McDonald's freedom
35 fighters which, according to Simon Giverney, were formed
36 before my involvement with the store." So I guess Simon
37 has said they were before my involvement. I certainly have
38 no recollection while I was there, but Simon has obviously
39 said they were formed before I was involved with the
40 store.
41
42 MR. ATKINSON: My Lord, can we just clarify whether Mr. Morris
43 is saying that is the law?
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: No. He has suggested to the witness that
46 there is, but we have got no further than that.
47
48 MS. STEEL: I actually think there is, but I cannot remember.
49
50 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest is that you find it; then as
51 the evidence progresses, we will see whether there is
52 evidence that McDonald's have been in breach of whatever
53 the regulation is, if it exists.
54
55 It is common ground that there is provision for a minimum
56 break between shifts for young people under the age of 18,
57 or that there was, and they can work a maximum certain
58 number of hours in 24 hours. But that is a different
59 matter. So if you are suggesting that there is a further
60 regulation which applies across the board for periods of
