Has my employer done anything wrong?

Moonalesca95

I started an apprenticeship last Monday (I'm 20) and found out 15 minutes before leaving work at 5 that I'd been fired. When I asked for a reason why, I was told that it was due to being on Facebook a lot.
Some context: I've been working at a personal accident claims firm doing business admin, and when I first started working there last week I was told that if we were unable to contact clients via phone, we were to use the company's Facebook to search for them and message them. This is what I've been doing, and is the only reason I've been on Facebook. I haven't sat playing on my phone and I've worked myself to the bone every day to try and reach the target of 3 claims a day being sent off to solicitors.
I managed to get my first claim sent off to a solicitor yesterday, after speaking to one of my directors about feeling like I wasn't making much progress (turns out the pile of papers I'd been working through was for clients known to not answer, while the other apprentice that was hired at the same time as me was going through the pile for clients that would answer the phone).
Another issue I've had is that my colleagues have been helping out the other apprentice when she's needed it and she was hitting her targets halfway through last week, but when I've asked, I've either had to wait ten minutes or so before someone has come to help me, or I've received a vague set of instructions that oftentimes conflict with something I'd been told earlier. It's not as though I haven't tried to make progress, I just feel like I haven't been given the same kind of help the other girl has.
Another concern I have is a comment one of the directors made about me after lunch today. I'd finished eating food from the chip shop next door and he asked me what I'd be eating when I got home, which I found quite odd. He put the word "pizza" in my mouth and then asked if I ate anything healthy. I knew where the conversation was going to go so I just stayed quiet, but then he told me that I'd need to start eating healthily or I'd suffer a heart attack. I'm obese and I know I am, and I'd be doing something about it if healthy food wasn't so expensive. The comment he made was wholly inappropriate.
A part of me wants to try claiming compensation for the way I've been treated but I don't know if I'd have a case at all. Can someone please advise? :huh:

EDIT: The news that I'd been fired wasn't delivered by either of my bosses. Instead, they told one of my colleagues to break it to me after speaking to them on the phone. My colleague told me that the directors felt that the job wasn't for me and that I hadn't been doing my job properly. But how am I supposed to do my job properly when I've only been there a week and the help I've received has been rather shoddy?

jobbingmusician

I don't know a lot about apprenticeships, but do know that proper a'ships involve college study, not just the workplace placement. Are you on a proper apprenticeship?

If you are, then in your position I would ask your tutor for advice.

If you are not, then I suspect that you have no protection as an employer can dismiss on any whim within the first two years.

Moonalesca95

I've just pulled out the letter I received when I first accepted the apprenticeship and it says that by the end of the apprenticeship I would have received:
NVQ completed by assessor visits in the workplace, assessments and reviews
Technical certificate/Knowledge classes
Functional Skills classes and exam in IT Level 1

One other important note is that I found the apprenticeship through a training agency. McArthur Dean, based in Hull.

marcarm

Tbh, it sounds as though you are better off out of there.

Contact your assessor/provider and let them know and they will try and find another placement for you.

Jobbingmusician, not all apprenticeships are completed with college study, WBL, or work based learning is where an assessor visits the apprentice in the workplace to carry out assessments etc.

But yes, your first port of call is your assessor/provider.

You will not be able to claim compensation as you have not been there long enough and I doubt you have proof of what has happened, so it would be your word against theirs.

Moonalesca95

I'll be ringing my training provider in the morning then, since they closed at 5. I feel really inadequate and belittled because of this.

19lottie82

A business admin apprenticeship? As advised its just a scam so companies can get funding to pay someone peanuts.

If you have basic IT and computing skills, admin isn't hard to get into. There are plenty of junior positions out there with a decent starting salary for a young person.

Moonalesca95

I can't say I'd be surprised if they were just a scam, to be honest. They have representatives out around the country even though they've told the Ministry of Justice that they don't. Feel like reporting them, just to get my own back. :rofl:

Daniel_wb

A colleague can't fire u
A manager has to .

Dan-Dan

Moonalesca95 wrote: »

I'll be ringing my training provider in the morning then, since they closed at 5. I feel really inadequate and belittled because of this.

and only a nice fat bit of compo would soothe your hurt feelings?

Move on , better off out of such a vile industry

Tiddlywinks

Moonalesca95 wrote: »

Another concern I have is a comment one of the directors made about me after lunch today. I'd finished eating food from the chip shop next door and he asked me what I'd be eating when I got home, which I found quite odd. He put the word "pizza" in my mouth and then asked if I ate anything healthy. I knew where the conversation was going to go so I just stayed quiet, but then he told me that I'd need to start eating healthily or I'd suffer a heart attack. I'm obese and I know I am, and I'd be doing something about it if healthy food wasn't so expensive. The comment he made was wholly inappropriate.
A part of me wants to try claiming compensation for the way I've been treated but I don't know if I'd have a case at all. Can someone please advise? :huh:

I think you've probably made a really bad impression with the management - you're in your first week and should be trying your best to look and act professionally. Yet you're eating chip shop specials in front of the director?

Your excuse being that it's cheaper than eating healthily?

I'm calling prank post as this is unbelievable.

Murphybear

Sorry to hear about your problems but you have had some good advice.

In your original post you say that it is too expensive to eat healthily. It doesn't have to be. Places like Aldi and Lidl have loads of fruit and veg for rock bottom prices. Ready meals can be expensive and unhealthy, especially pizza (yes I know, most of us love it:D). Try a smaller portion with some salad. There's lots of posts here on MSE about budgeting for food.

Good luck with everything