Apprenticeship trouble! PLEASE ADVISE!!

MiissTL

Hello,

I would really appreciate some advice on this...

My boyfriend got a job as an apprentice mechanic in a main dealers last July. They took him on under the pretence that he would be a registered apprentice with FAS.

He had a 6 month contract which stated that he was being taken on as an apprentice and paid an agreed salary! Which, by the way, was never discussed and he is paid roughly 4 euro an hour. Perfectly ok, as this is an apprentice wage.

After a while he asked if he was registered with FAS as he had heard nothing from them. This is when he was told that his contract was a probation contract and when that was up they "would see".

These 6 months expired in January and nothing was ever mentioned, there was no new contract drawn up, not one word from his employers. After another few weeks, I rang FAS to see if he had been registered, they told me that he had not been. I then asked if the time he has been working there will still count when he is registered and I was told NO. The time only starts adding up AFTER you are registered and there is nothing he could do about it.

After this my boyfriend asked if he would be kept on and registered, they then said that they "would see" when their other apprentice came back from a phase in FAS.

The other apprentice came back to work today and my boyfriend was called into the office after work. They have put him on a 3 day week and they "will see" if they will register him, if things pick up!

What should he do?
Is it legal for them to be paying him 4 euro an hour for all this time when he was not an actual apprentice. He is doing the same work as their qualified mechanics!

I think that he is being used as cheap labour but that is just my very biased opinion!

I am at a loss as to what I should advise him to do. Times are tough but I feel he is being used in this business and he is not happy!

I would really appreciate some advice and so would he.

Thanks in advance!

tramoreman

tell him to go to citizen information but personally id get out of there they are using him they sound like they have no intention of registering him as a apprentiship