Day 118 - 01 May 95 - Page 10

     
     1        A.  No, not as long as their total earnings exceeded the
     2        laid down minimum which is what the Wages Council's papers
     3        used to calculate when they came into the restaurants and
     4        into the Payroll Department.
     5
     6   Q.   Have you still got pink XII there, please?
     7        A.  Yes.
     8
     9   Q.   Turn to tab 26.
    10        A.  Yes.
    11
    12   Q.   Page 646.
    13        A.  Yes.
    14
    15   Q.   There are rates given here for hours between 7 a.m. to
    16        7 p.m., 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., 11 p.m. to 7 a.m..  I think you
    17        come under the category of "Any other worker" at the
    18        bottom, or McDonald's crew members would, and in the 18
    19        year or over column there are three different figures which
    20        are raised in accordance with those hours, with the
         antisocial hours?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   Q.   In the final column:  "In addition for all time worked over
    25        39 hours a week, except time worked on rest days and public
    26        holidays" and additional £1.02 on top of whatever rate they
    27        were getting for whichever work period they were ----
    28        A.  Yes.
    29
    30   Q.   So you were not complying with the law if workers were
    31        working over 39 hours a week?
    32        A.  Yes, we were because the way it was calculated by the
    33        wages inspector is that if their total wage at the end of
    34        the 39 hour shift worked out at more than the minimum rate,
    35        that would be taken into account in balancing the
    36        non-payment of overtime.
    37
    38   Q.   You were only paying the minimum rates for all those ----
    39
    40   MR. RAMPTON:  I am sorry, my Lord, in any event, Ms. Steel,
         I think, is looking at the wrong page.  This page is very
    42        clear that it is not the law, it is not a requirement by
    43        statute, it is a note for guidance.  In bold writing in
    44        about the fifth line it says:  "These notes are solely for
    45        guidance and are not a complete authoritative statement of
    46        the law".  As I understand it, the relevant page is 639.
    47
    48   MS. STEEL:  It is a summary of what the position is.
    49
    50   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not know.  Let us see.  I think you had 
    51        better complete your answer about the wages inspector, 
    52        first of all. 
    53
    54   THE WITNESS:  What the wages inspector used to calculate, sir,
    55        was he would come in, he would look at the number of hours
    56        worked.  If it was in excess of the 39 hours, he would
    57        calculate how much that person should have earned -- say
    58        they earned 44 hours, he would have calculated how much
    59        they should have earned, 39 hours at 2.014, and the
    60        remaining five hours at 2.014 plus 1.007.  If the total