Grounds for unfair dismissal ?(apprenticship)

Sy1972

I am wondering if someone can give me some advice on this matter.

My nephew has been working as an apprentice for the same company for 2 years, having turned 18 in January he was given a pay rise of £10 in May this year so he was recieving £105 a week, and then passed his apprenticship at the beginning of June. However, when asking his boss for a pay rise today he has been told that they can no longer afford to employ him and couldn't afford to pay him the full wage for an 18 year old and have given him a months notice. Is this legal for them to do so ?, and should the employer of been paying him the proper wage for an 18 year old since he qualified in June ?.

brutus1983

this does happen alot in my industry (electrical) when an apprentice becomes qualified they are immediatly laid off as the company is under contract to get the apprentice qualified once the apprentiship is over so is the contract im afraid

mariefab

If he had a 2 year apprenticeship contract/agreement and those 2 years ended at the beginning of June, he should have been paid at least the minimum wage since then.

saintjammyswine

The contract of employment whilst on the apprenticeship only has to last the duration of the apprenticeship. There is no requirement to extend it beyond this although it is a little short sighted given what has been invested in your nephew.

Uncertain

saintjammyswine wrote: »

The contract of employment whilst on the apprenticeship only has to last the duration of the apprenticeship. There is no requirement to extend it beyond this although it is a little short sighted given what has been invested in your nephew.

Yes, but the firm have extended it as the apprenticeship ended in June and we are now mid August.

He is therefore been employed continuously and has been for long enough to potentially claim unfair dismissal.

At the very least he is entitled to notice (one week for each full year of employment) plus any untaken holiday.

He is also entitled to at least the minimum wage from the end of the apprenticeship.

colino

Unfortunately it is pretty normal for businesses that traditionally use apprentices and are familiar with the system to do this. Apart from making sure he was getting the rate for the job, it is unlikely he can do anything aout this, the new apprentice is probably already signed up too.
If he is in a common trade it is also common for the next "tier down" business to be waiting for his type of skills. Say for example he has served his time as a technician in the local Ford dealership. The next step down is the perfectly respectable all-comers garage down the road where they don't have a training programme but they regularly scoop up people who have had the structured businesses benefits.
Best of luck.