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David Evans

When does your working day start? After the first coffee? Perhaps it's the moment you walk through the office door. On the bus?

What about when you pull on your jacket before leaving the house? Are you at work then? Why all the questions?

A recent decision by US federal mediator J. Chumley ruled that employees of Walt Disney World should be paid for time spent getting dressed as Mickey Mouse or Goofy.

The ruling stems from a complaint filed last year with the National Labour Relations Board by the Service Trades Council, which represents six unions at Disney World.

The complaint alleged that in the autumn of 1999, Disney unfairly stopped paying workers for time spent changing into or out of a costume or uniform, and for the time spent wearing a uniform before reaching a work site.

Employees are allowed to take their uniforms home and dress before coming to work, but many still have to walk long distances or take a bus to their work areas, union officials say.

Lai See still scratches his head over who would want to dress up in a giant rodent costume in the first place, let alone incur humiliation by wearing the thing on a bus.

If these people get some kind of perverted satisfaction out of meeting their mates after work for a curry dressed as Aladdin then let them do it in their own time.

What we're concerned about is the safety of Disney employees once they open up the park here. After a bad day at the office what better satisfaction could there be than taking your frustration out on a five-foot Hello Kitty on the MTR.

And with all the warnings floating around about rats and rubbish, an unsuspecting Mickey Mouse might find himself on the wrong end of Mr Wong's Acme bear trap.

'But officer, you should've seen the size of the thing.'

The Bowen Road dog poisoner is going to have kittens when he spots Goofy and Pluto strolling around Mid-Levels.

But on a more serious note, what impact could this ruling have in Hong Kong? McDonald's employees could double their salary in an instant.

Enterprising Maccy D staff (an oxymoron if ever there was one) might start walking to work instead of taking the bus, just to bump up those hours.

Perhaps they might even consider a move to Shenzhen.

Elizabeth Tang Yin-ngor, chief executive of the Confederation of Trade Unions, said that, generally, local employees did not officially start work until they crossed the threshold at their place of employment.

She said that this usually was specified in the employment contract.

'The problem is that when they are dressed in the company uniform they are representing the company,' she said.

Yes, but are they technically working?, we asked.

'Even though they put on their uniforms, they are not obliged to work,' said Ms Tang.

So, even though they may not be clocking up the cash, a burger-monkey could achieve a certain amount of job satisfaction by delivering a blow to the kidneys of the snivelling individual who complains about Maccas gherkin policy while sitting next to them on the ferry. Safe in the knowledge that they are not officially 'working' for the company.

Hong Kong bank employees, who are probably in the sights of many a peeved customer this week, get to change at work.

This gives them the added advantage of being able to change back into their civvies at a moment's notice in order to pursue the pensioner who tipped a bucket of 10 cent coins on to the counter with the request they be changed into dollar notes.

Again, safe in the knowledge that no one will point and say: 'Why is a bank employee shoving that old man's head down the toilet?'

So breath a sigh of relief in the knowledge that upsetting Hong Kong's happy status quo really would be considered taking the Mickey.



Hello Kitty's on the MTR, beware!