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Employment status: 'Modern apprenticeship' not apprenticeship

This report relates to 1 case(s)

Key points

In Flett v Matheson [2005] IRLR 412, the EAT holds:

  • The employment tribunal had correctly found that the employee was not employed under a traditional fixed-term contract of apprenticeship as his training period involved a tripartite agreement between the employer, employee and a training provider.
  • Because the employee was not an apprentice he was not entitled to damages for breach of contract on the basis of the Court of Appeal's decision in Dunk v George Waller & Son, where a traditional apprenticeship was terminated before the end of its term causing loss of future benefits and opportunities.
  • The employee was employed under a contract of employment overlaid by a training contract and, as such, was only entitled to damages equivalent to one week's notice.