Day 166 - 28 Sep 95 - Page 14
1 fixed plastic cover on the notice board along with all
2 other necessary notices, including a copy of the Shops and
3 Factory Act. He is also wrong in saying that the highest
4 hourly rate paid was £3 per hour and that only a couple of
5 employees were paid at this level.
6
7 As far as I can now recall, there were at least six
8 employees paid in excess of £3 per hour. His comments
9 about merit rises being few and far between are also
10 surprising, as I recall that merit rises were given
11 frequently". Do you stand by that?
12 A. Yes.
13
14 Q. Just one clarification on that, when you talk about at
15 least six employees being paid in excess of £3 an hour, do
16 you mean by that people who have not reached the management
17 level?
18 A. That is right.
19
20 Q. Going on to paragraph (7) of your statement, you say: "It
21 is correct that on the occasions when the store was short
22 staffed (usually due to people not turning up for a
23 scheduled shift) we asked employees to work extra hours.
24 Most staff were happy to do so. Magill alleges that the
25 majority of employees worked well over 39 hours per week
26 but later qualifies this in his Continuation Statement to
27 say that half the full-time staff worked for more than 39
28 hours. Crew were not scheduled for more than 39 hours a
29 week and full-time employees would be scheduled to work
30 five days a week.
31
32 At the time, I did not have a large number of permanent
33 staff, the majority being part-time. As far as I recall,
34 very few of the crew, either full-time or part-time, worked
35 more than 39 hours a week, and even then only occasionally
36 when we were short staffed".
37
38 Just on that, if it is, in fact, the case that Mr. Magill
39 says in his Continuation Statement more than half the
40 full-time staff worked for more than 39 hours, that is to
41 say, more than half of the full-time staff worked, does
42 that affect what you say in the statement?
43 A. Can you say that again, sorry?
44
45 Q. It is not particularly important.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
48
49 MR. ATKINSON: Paragraph (8) -- just one question: If people
50 refused to do further hours would you take disciplinary
51 action against them?
52 A. Not at all.
53
54 Q. Going on to paragraph (8): "If Magill is intending to
55 imply that one of my managers dismissed any employees in
56 the manner you describes, I refute that entirely. Any
57 dismissals which took place would have been carried out by
58 me and I certainly never dismissed anyone in that manner.
59 I deny also that I or any of the managers would force an
60 employee to leave by being particularly unpleasant to
