Day 145 - 29 Jun 95 - Page 41
1 you were to charge an employee for a uniform, which is
2 permitted -- you can charge them for a uniform under the US
3 law -- the entire amount in that uniform -- for example,
4 our uniforms probably cost $36 to $40, the entire -- and
5 you charge them when they came on board and, say, they only
6 earned $40 or 50 ------
7
8 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I understand what it means. I think what
9 Ms. Steel is saying, why bother to tell employees that if
10 they are not charged for uniforms anyway?
11 A. OK. This is the Operations Manual and this is an
12 instruction to our people.
13
14 Q. Right. Why tell them to do that if there is no question of
15 a charge anyway?
16 A. Oh, so that they will understand the law, and we do not
17 want them doing that, but this is really meant as a
18 discouragement to doing that, my Lord, because on a
19 practical matter it says: "You cannot do it anyway, so do
20 not even think about it doing it." So, it is really -- it
21 is a practical way of saying to the owner/operators that if
22 you ever think about charging for uniforms, you would fly
23 in the face of this requirement; that it would have to be
24 charged against that first pay period, and you would be in
25 violation of federal law. So, even if you paid 6, 7 or $8
26 an hour, it would not be enough to get them over minimum
27 wage for that first week period.
28
29 So, what it really is doing is setting out a
30 discouragement, if you will, for anyone who might consider
31 charging for a uniform because they can theoretically
32 charge for a uniform in the United States.
33
34 MS. STEEL: There is something else I wanted to ask about ---
35 A. I hope that was clear, my Lord?
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. I have now read the first sentence in
38 the paragraph as well.
39
40 MS. STEEL: -- in this manual: If you turn to page 122 -- this
41 is the Operations and Training Manual for 1990/91 -- it has
42 the hourly rate ranges by job classification. General crew
43 and openers and closers, starting rate is $3.80.
44 A. Can you help me? You are talking very quickly; I am
45 trying to figure out where you are at.
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: The table at the top next to the "2"?
48 A. OK.
49
50 MS. STEEL: The starting rate for general crew is $3.80 which is
51 the federal minimum at that time?
52 A. Yes.
53
54 Q. The maximum rate is $5.75 for "outstanding"?
55 A. Yes.
56
57 Q. $5 for "excellent" and $4 for "good"?
58 A. OK, so what is the question?
59
60 Q. The point is the starting rate is $3.80.
