Day 143 - 27 Jun 95 - Page 25

     
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     2   MS. STEEL:  I think Mr. Rampton should sit down and let the
     3        witness finish.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  There may be, Mr. Rampton, but I think
     6        Ms. Steel must be allowed to put it.
     7
     8   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes, my Lord, I understand that, but what she is
     9        now putting is inconsistent with the other case which they
    10        sometimes put, namely, that McDonald's, as it were, drive
    11        their workers to work longer hours than they really
    12        should.  They cannot have it both ways.
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:  You can if you force people to work long hours at
    15        night within a 24-hour period.
    16
    17   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That may or may not be a valid comment, but
    18        Ms. Steel has moved to another point now.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:   I do not know whether Mr. Stein wanted to his
         finish answer?
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I will leave you to deal with the question of
    24        overtime.  Do not forget that when we had English witnesses
    25        on this, it was said that it came from the States and,
    26        therefore, you were going to ask Mr. Stein what the origins
    27        of any preference was and what the reasoning behind it
    28        was.  That was one of the things which we noted at the time
    29        you could ask Mr. Stein when he was in the witness box.
    30
    31   MS. STEEL:  Right.
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  The situation was this before we moved off
    34        it, you said that there was not a policy against working
    35        more than 40 hours week.  "We prefer that they do not work
    36        more than 40".  You were asked by Ms. Steel:  "Is that
    37        basically because you do not want to have to pay overtime
    38        rates?"  You said:  "We would like not to have to pay
    39        overtime but it has", and then Mr. Rampton spoke.  So,
    40        I would like you to say what you were going to say?
         A.  Sure.  My Lord, it is very simple and that is if you
    42        are properly staffed, there is no reason why you have to --
    43        if you are properly staffed, there is no reason why you
    44        would need to work overtime, generally.  So, it is
    45        something that we would prefer not to do.  It does cost us
    46        additional money.
    47
    48   Q.   That is really the reason then:  Why pay overtime rates, as
    49        you have to in the States under -- I have forgotten the
    50        name of the act already -- but, in any event, why pay time 
    51        and a quarter --- 
    52        A.  Time and a half. 
    53
    54   Q.   -- or time and a half, or whatever it is, if by dint of
    55        proper scheduling you can avoid doing that?  I say "proper
    56        scheduling", always assuming that you do not have a
    57        recruitment problem in that particular area and you have
    58        enough people on your books to schedule so that no-one does
    59        work more than 40 hours?
    60        A.  That is correct, my Lord.