Does my Employer Receive Funding for my Apprenticeship?
Q.I am 18 years old and have been working as an electrical apprentice for 18 months. I have recently started my second year C&G Electrical Installation course - all exams taken and passed so far. Approximately 7 weeks ago my employer stopped providing work - I still attend college one day per week, but my employer has not provided any work, won't return any of my telephone calls, or written requestes for him to contact me. I am aware that other second year apprentices have not received any work either.
The company has taken on another apprentice this year (1st Year), who is, for the time being receiving work.
Am I entitled to any wage even though I am not currently receiving any work? We are supposed to be paid for our college days, as yet we have not received payment for this but our pay is usually at least one month late even when we did have some work. Can you offer any advice? Does my employer receive funding for my training?
A.
It is very unfair of your employer to be treating you this way as obviously you need to be working in order to complete your apprenticeship. It sounds like they have already been treating you badly by paying you late in the past and it is not something that you should have to put up with.
Yes, your employer is probably receiving funding for your training and if they are not passing this onto you then they will get into trouble. However, for now, you need to concentrate on your own needs and how you can stop your employer cutting off your work.
You have done everything that you can so far – providing verbal and written requests for your employer to contact you, but it sounds like you may need to take things further. As an apprentice, you are entitled to the same rights as any other employee of the company. This means that your employer has to provide you with the basic pay that is agreed in your contract and give you holiday and sick days, as they would a regular employee.
Because of this, they have to follow the same rules of employment. Therefore, they cannot just stop giving you work when they feel like it as they have a contractual agreement with you which can be enforced by law.
The first thing you need to do is to check your contract and see what the terms you agreed were – this will cover your pay, working hours and commitment. You should have a written statement of employment but if your employer never gave you one, you still have a verbal agreement from the moment that you accepted the employment.
Do you have a trade union representative or dispute rep at work? If so, try to contact them so they can sort things out directly with your employer. If not, then contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau or ACAS who will be able to help you liaise with your employer and try and sort the situation out. Hopefully, once your employer realizes you are not going to let it go, they will start acting responsibly and you will not need to take the matter any further.
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