Failed apprentice wins payout

A signwriting apprentice who failed to complete his training will get a $15,000 payout from his former employer, despite failing to prove he was wrongly fired.

Ian Milne took Awesome Art, of Palmerston North, to the Employment Relations Authority, saying he had been wrongly fired, disadvantaged during a restructure, spoken about in a derogatory way and had his final pay delayed.

Awesome Art owners Owen and Kathy Jarrett denied wrongdoing.

Milne worked for Awesome Art in various roles before being employed as a signwriting apprentice in 2014. Work went fine for him until mid-2017, when he claimed company practice and staff treatment went downhill.

He was later called into a meeting and given a letter, which said the owners were looking at reducing the number of days the business operated.

However, the letter gave him an assurance he would be employed until the conclusion of his apprenticeship.

The owners said the letter was a signal they were looking to wind down the business as they contemplated retirement. They reiterated that when Owen Jarrett went for surgery later in the year.

More emails outlined more plans, as well as problems the owners had with staff.

The owners also suggested moving Milne’s apprenticeship to Wellington, which he declined.

In February 2018 the owners told staff they planned to gradually close the business, with individual meetings to work through personal arrangements. Many staff, including Milne, took that letter as notice of dismissal.

In his meeting, Milne said he was asked to buy the business – he could not because it would require supervising his own apprenticeship – or transfer his apprenticeship to Wellington.

Those topics match with the owners’ notes for the meeting and they said he was guaranteed retention until July 2018.

However, Milne said he was told his employment would end in February. He also claimed he was told his ‘‘bloodlines’’ meant he could not run a business.

He ended up working elsewhere with Awesome Art owners’ knowledge, but the company noted him as absent without leave to a company involved in the apprenticeship scheme. That led to Milne telling his apprenticeship adviser he had no idea how he could continue his apprenticeship in that situation, so his apprenticeship was cancelled.

Authority member Michael Loftus said Milne’s apprenticeship was not going well, because he was behind on assessments.

Although employees may have believed they were being dismissed, that announcement had a caveat that individual discussions were yet to take place. Letters Milne thought were dismissal notices, in fact, were not, Loftus said.

But Milne was disadvantaged, because he had joined Awesome Art to complete an apprenticeship. Awesome Art’s legal duty was to help him find a way to complete it, yet it failed to do so, Loftus said.

Its method of communicating many issues in emails to staff did not help with the confusing situation. The company’s failure to communicate well led to Milne leaving, which was clearly disadvantageous because it cost him the chance of completing the apprenticeship, Loftus said.

The derogatory comment and final pay matters were dismissed, because there was no evidence for the former and the final pay had been sorted.

The owners said the letter was a signal they were looking to wind down the business.