Day 150 - 07 Jul 95 - Page 57
1
2 So the idea was to maybe take a far broader, long term view
3 to make sure that the Floor Managers did not solely and
4 exclusively do some of these administration exercises.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I am not sure I am understanding you. Is
7 what you are saying that the Manager was giving jobs to
8 Floor Managers, like Simon Gidney, who knew the store,
9 because he knew they knew how to do a particular job,
10 rather than going through the extra work of showing a
11 Second Assistant Manager how to do it; is that what you are
12 saying?
13 A. If I could give you a really good example on that?
14 Simon, for example, in doing the scheduling would know the
15 crew very well. Perhaps a newer Assistant Manager coming
16 in with only a few months experience would not know the
17 crew, would not know what hours and their flexible work
18 times, for example, and so the easier option would
19 obviously give it to Simon. He would not -- the new
20 Assistant Manager, if it was me, I would not have to learn
21 and find out what people's new availability was.
22
23 So, therefore, there was a danger that the easier option
24 was to give it to someone who knew those details of when
25 people were available and so on and so forth. So, I
26 just wanted to prevent that. That would not mean that the
27 Floor Managers could not do those tasks, but they could
28 certainly improve the training of a brand new Second
29 Assistant coming into the restaurant who would have to
30 learn these skills.
31
32 MS. STEEL: So the Second Assistant Manager had not worked his
33 way up from within that store?
34 A. No.
35
36 Q. Where had they come from?
37 A. I think at the time there was a guy called Kevin
38 Harrison who we recruited externally, so to speak.
39 I cannot recall what his background was. So, in order, for
40 example, to make sure that Kevin got the proper training,
41 it would have been easier to give it to Simon. I believe
42 he may well have been there from the very first day the
43 store opened, so would know everyone's availability
44 probably backwards; whereas Kevin would have to come in,
45 for example, and learn about all that.
46
47 Q. At this time, were the First and Second Assistant Managers
48 sitting around doing nothing or were they getting on with
49 others things?
50 A. No, that is not to suggest they were doing no work.
51 They would have, perhaps, an over view, if you like.
52 I think the First Assistant was, may have been responsible
53 for payroll. They were -- again, Assistant Managers were
54 shift running as the Store Manager would be shift running;
55 but on days, for example, if there were a First Assistant
56 and a Second Assistant present on a same shift, then we
57 would be looking for one of those Managers to be doing some
58 other administrative tasks. So that is not to suggest that
59 any of the salaried Managers were sitting around doing
60 nothing and all the tasks were performed by the Floor
