Day 145 - 29 Jun 95 - Page 42
1 A. Wait a minute, wait a minute. This is a model. This
2 is not a dictate of what they should be doing. It is
3 similar to the discussion that I had concerning the
4 Handbook. This is not a direction, this is not a mandatory
5 subject. I think I have told you, this manual is a
6 reference tool to give people examples and ideas of how to
7 do things. It is not meant to be the determiner of how you
8 do things.
9
10 Q. Firstly, underneath the chart it does says: "Use of these
11 maximums will help your efforts to manage your average
12 hourly rates". Then underneath it where it has "Raises
13 based on performance", it says: "The following wage review
14 guidelines are recommended for all stores in the United
15 States and should be considered mandatory by McOpco stores
16 in the United States". So, there certainly are aspects of
17 this that are mandatory to the Company-owned stores?
18 A. That is -- frankly, that is the first I have seen of
19 anything mandatory to Company stores. I can tell you that
20 that has never been interpreted that way. Every
21 marketplace will decide on its own. I do not know why --
22 frankly, I do not know why that is there. It is the first
23 time I have ever seen it there, and it does not make any
24 sense to me that someone would have written that. I assure
25 you, if you spoke to every Operations person about that,
26 they would laugh and say: "Somebody put that in but it is
27 of no consequence".
28
29 Q. The chart does not say, "Suggested hourly rate ranges by
30 job classifications". It says that what is the ranges are?
31 A. I am telling you it is strictly a model. These are
32 guidelines. These are not policies. These are
33 not -- these have nothing to do with directing someone as
34 to how, in fact, deal with specific amounts; nothing at all
35 to do with that.
36
37 MR. MORRIS: If you look at page 123 under "Terminations
38 Employment at will"?
39 A. Yes.
40
41 Q. It says: "Employment at will: All McDonald's employees are
42 free to terminate their employment at any time for any
43 reason and the Company retains the same rights."
44 A. Yes.
45
46 Q. "To terminate an employee's employment any time for any
47 reason."
48 A. Yes, we are getting back to -- this does not set forth
49 the legal requirements. This is a layman's interpretation
50 of this thing. To try to set out a legal requirement would
51 take pages and pages and you do not do that. This is just
52 an expression of trying to state the "employment at will"
53 doctrine.
54
55 Q. If you read that whole paragraph underneath, "How to handle
56 terminations"?
57 A. Yes.
58
59 Q. It does say that the employee may retaliate in the form of
60 a law suit sometimes?
