Apprentice Employment Law HELP NEEDED

Unicorn

Unicorn

Unicorn

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24 Dec 2011
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Right then been up to Glasgow today to find out my apprenticeship is being terminated. Under no grounds except they want to reduce the ammount of apprentices employed so iv hit the chop block

Odd parts. All was to kept hush hush and iv been offered a payout of 3000 to sign monday and just leave.

Is this legal can they get rid of me? Do i sign i need some advice fast

If i leave/fired i won't complete my apprenticeship so im stuffed :( Massive loss of earnings etc
 
What contract of Employment are you under?

If memory serves me if its a contract of apprenticeship then I don't think legally the employer can end it early without you gaining a qualification but if its a simply contract of employment then you probably don't have any legal standing.
I'm happy to stand corrected on the above though and please don't take that as the absolute because I could be wrong.

The fact that they are offering you £3k suggests that they could be on dodgy ground though.
 
As above, if it's an apprenticeship I don't think they can't make you redundant or end it early, unless they can prove misconduct or a severe lack of ability on your part.
I'd get in contact with ACAS or CAB if I were you.
 
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GrimsbyLAD said:
Odd parts. All was to kept hush hush and iv been offered a payout of 3000 to sign monday and just leave.
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Sounds like a compromise agreement. How long have you worked there for?

If it's less than a year I'd take the £3k.
 
Columbo said:
What contract of Employment are you under?

If memory serves me if its a contract of apprenticeship then I don't think legally the employer can end it early without you gaining a qualification but if its a simply contract of employment then you probably don't have any legal standing.
I'm happy to stand corrected on the above though and please don't take that as the absolute because I could be wrong.

The fact that they are offering you £3k suggests that they could be on dodgy ground though.
Click to expand...


Being an apprentice doens't mean anything special in terms of employement, in the eyes of a law being an apprentice is seen as the same as being a full time employee, and they have all the same rights.

The £3000 is probably the equivilent of redundancy pay + extra to cover ending the apprenticeship early, not because its dodgy.

Unless you have a particularly compelling reason to stay, I would take the money, and be done with it, God knows if you say no it will just end up getting you put on crap jobs and them making your life as hellish as they can until you leave of your own accord.
 
kindai said:
Being an apprentice doens't mean anything special in terms of employement, in the eyes of a law being an apprentice is seen as the same as being a full time employee, and they have all the same rights.
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That's not quite right - there are now two types of apprenticeship depending on whether there is an apprentice 'contract' or 'agreement'.

Contracts are the old style ones and mean the apprentice has extra rights over normal employees. Agreements were introduced in the Apprenticeship, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 and mean the apprentices are treated like normal employees for dismissal purposes but the contract of employment has to include certain statements for it to qualify for being an agreement rather than a contract.

The only reasons an apprentice can be terminated early from an apprentice 'contract' are gross misconduct and closure of business (not just a downturn), otherwise there is a breach of contract and the apprentice is due various monies/compensation.

So the OP needs to know whether he is on a contract or an agreement (it sounds likely to be an agreement)

More info here:

http://www.cipd.co.uk/pm/peoplemana.../get-your-apprenticeship-rights-straight.aspx
 
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I would be happy to delete the info pointing to myself and the company in question and posting my contract if this would be acceptable? I have contracts which went in the order of 1 year fixed, 2 year fixed and since my 2 year fixed expired iv been on 30 day fixed until my time is served. I was always under a contract i signed
 
GrimsbyLAD said:
I would be happy to delete the info pointing to myself and the company in question and posting my contract if this would be acceptable? I have contracts which went in the order of 1 year fixed, 2 year fixed and since my 2 year fixed expired iv been on 30 day fixed until my time is served. I was always under a contract i signed
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I'd suggest you contact your employment union if you are member, if not speak to ACAS for advice. The people on here are unlikely to be qualified to give you a definitive answer or if they are qualified, are unlikely to comment.

I only have a small bit of knowledge on the subject due to employing an apprentice, but she is doing AAT so probably different your situation as each year is an nvq level
 
I'm not sure, but either the company the apprentice works for, or the apprenticeship provider; legally has to find the apprentice work elsewhere until they're contract is up and the apprenticeship is complete, or something to that effect. And I've never ever heard of a 30 day contract for an apprentice, the contract should be a fixed term that last the predicted length of time it will take to complete training and qualifications, sounds very dodgy and two bit indeed.
 
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Apprentices can't be made redundant (Which is what it sounds like)

That said, depending on how long you've worked there etc, I might personally take the pay off (If I'd been offered 3K to leave after 3 months I'd have taken it and got another apprenticeship)

EDIT : I'm not sure how it works if you're out of your first year though.
 
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You've been offered a 3k pay out to quit your 'apprenticeship'.

Something doesn't quite add up as statutory redundancy for a couple of years employment would be less than that, unless you're earning mega bucks.

What do you you do exactly?
 
Im a controls and instrumentation technician clearing over 1000 a week. Well i was.

breakdown of it all now iv read it all properly..

3000 Redundancy bonus package
992.70 In annual holiday i didn't bother taking
100 for keeping my agreement with trade secrets
1009.20 4 weeks notice pay @ Basic retainer rate

I get retainer when im not working and i get paid full whack when im working

So 5100 is my total "leaving ammount"

They've agreed to 500 legal expenses im going to use they will pay for me to get some proper advice on it and what the law is
 
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