Day 134 - 13 Jun 95 - Page 67
1 16, 17, 18 plus, 21 plus, that was a computer printout.
2 Somebody who was 15, where what would happen to them?
3 Would that be a separate entry?
4 A. The company normally does not employ people aged 15.
5 I am not aware that we have people employed by Company
6 operated restaurants who are 15. We employ people of
7 school leaving age only.
8
9 Q. So you just would not be aware of it; if it was happening
10 it would not come up?
11 A. Yes, it would. It would be flagged. I do not quite
12 know what the sheet would look like, but there would be an
13 "employed under age" something. It would be highlighted.
14 If someone was under 16 it would be rejected. It is a
15 payroll type thing and it would come out via the payroll
16 computer. That is why I am not familiar with the document,
17 but it would be highlighted.
18
19 Q. We have had cases of McDonald's being prosecuted for the
20 employment of school age children. We have had examples of
21 entries in injury accident books of people on work
22 experience. Mr. Nicholson said that -- we saw a memo which
23 basically advised people on the employment of school aged
24 children or under school leaving age children.
25 A. Was that perhaps to franchisees?
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That was to franchisees, but there was a
28 possibility of some restaurants employing people under 16
29 to a limited extent at some stage. Do you know about that?
30 A. I know that it may have happened before in the past at
31 some point. There may have been ----
32
33 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, it is only fair to the witness to point
34 out that the convictions date from the early 1980s before
35 she held her present position. Mr. Morris should have
36 pointed that out.
37
38 MR. MORRIS: Mr. Nicholson wrote to the ILEA saying that because
39 of recruiting difficulties they were considering or
40 activating the employment of under school leaving age
41 children. All I am saying is has that been monitored to
42 see whether any stores have done that or how many?
43 A. No, because this will again, perhaps I am still
44 forgetting that we are talking about quite a way back, all
45 of this is back to that point, so it is certainly not a
46 policy that is in operation now. It may have been
47 something that was thought about then. I do not think it
48 was ever done very actively. I am as sure as I can be that
49 if someone under 16 is put into the computer that there is
50 a something, a flag that comes up in the computer.
51 Franchisees would be different of course. We would not
52 have any record of those.
53
54 MS. STEEL: I do not know whether you still have that file
55 open, but the document at letter E.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Document E behind your statement.
58
59 MS. STEEL: Are these produced on a regular basis, or was this
60 just a one-off?
