General Chat

Son is on his 2nd year apprenticeship in a plumbing & heating company. Today he was working in house putting in a new central heating system, were all the floor boards had been removed, his foot slipped off a joist and went through the kitchen ceiling. His company have said he's got to pay for the damage out of his wages which they estimate at £300. He comes home with about £400 a month, as he gets the minimum Apprentice wage of £2.60 per hour! So guess who is going to have to pay?

How can they expect someone to pay for that when it was an accident and they have insurance?

Kim

I'd be furious too Kim

the company should have puplic liability insurance for this kind of thing

and what if he had been seriously injured ?

Thats naughty of the company,I am sure they are wrong,
I would ring ACAS, first thing in the morning,Im sure they would be able to advise you.
How does the company know,how much its going to be to repair the damage?
Also it could be a Health & Safety issue,under the conditions your son was working in.
As Yvonne said,the company should have Public Liability Insurance,for problems such as this.
I am sure the company are in the wrong.
Hope your son is ok.
Please let us know how you get on.
Trish

I also wonder about your son and whether he was injured as well.

All companies should be covered by insurance.
Do you have a citizens advice bureau that can give you free legal advice and also what about your local member of parliament can that person help or point you in the right direction?

That's what we do here in NZ.

Hope it all works out

Persey

My husband is a company director of a building firm.His insurance covers his employees up to a million pounds.All firms must have insurance. Annie

PS He flooded the stables out in Buckingham Palace a few years ago and that did not come cheap lol Insurance paid

Oh Annie I bet that must have cost a fortune lol

Son has gone into work this morning and told them no way is he going to pay.

Trish, thank you for that advice, I'll get on to them this morning

Kim

They maybe having a leg pull with him as its a known joke with young apprentices they send them off for a rubber hammer or a tin of tartan paint and such like }},

but in all events the company should have liabilty ins,

i fell through our ceiling a few years ago
and it cost 30 quid to fix the hole and plaster the area

Unfortunately this company do not do wind ups, a few months ago son damaged a solder gun, he was not told that the solder must always be under the gun, and they deducted the cost of that from his wages :(

Kim

Hi Kim,
I would say that next to ruined carpets or treading on a nail left sticking up from a removed floorboard, putting a foot through a loft ceiling (no boards) was the next most common accident report we used to get! Hopefully it was plasterboard ceiling, the old lath and plaster is nasty stuff as the laths trap your foot from being removed like barbs.

It might well be that the company has failed in it’s duty of care for it’s employee.

Jobs are hard to come by these days so he may not want to rock the boat, but questions to ask might be,
Was adequate training given?
Was it safe for the works to be carried out with so many boards removed?
Was the lighting sufficient?
Was he as an apprentice, properly supervised?


Good luck.

Best wishes,
Mayfield.

I second everything Mayfield said. Make sure that your son checks (stand over them) the accident goes into the accident book. If at all possible get him to take photos re the working conditions i.e. no floorboards.

The firm's insurance would pay for the damage. Does make you wonder if they have insurance.

It is illegal for a firm to deduct that from your wages unless they get you to sign a form stating that.

THE COMPANY MUST BY LAW HAVE A
PUBLIC LIABILITY INSURANCE,
YOUR SON SHOULD SAY HE HURT HIS
FOOT,SO HE WILL BE CLAIMING FOR THAT
AGAINST THEM,
YEARS AGO MY HUSBAND HELPED MY COUSIN
A BUILDER TO CATCH UP WITH WORK LOST DUE TO WEATHER
THE LADDER BROKE MY HUSBAND WAS HURT
COUSINS INSURANCE PAID FOR WAGES HE WOULD
HAVE EARNT TILL HE WAS FIT,ONLY 2 WEEKS
BUT THEY STILL PAYED NOT MUCH BUT IT HELPED

sorry but this is a health and safety thing, as he shouldnt have been walking on the floor joists at all, he needs to ask to see the safety assessment and take that to his solicitor, and also the company that is dealing with his apprenticship as its against the rules!!!

sorry to say but your son had better start looking for another placement as this is the beginning of his dissmissal, i have been thr all this type of stuff with my daughter when she was training in a hairdressing salon, as for the wages? how old is your son? because if hes older than 18 and hes been there more than 12 months then he should be taking home a lot more than that , typically tho the compamy is paying the absolute legal minimum that they have too as there is no upper limit as to how much an apprentice can be paid, also once hes reached 18 the national minimum wage still applies even if hes an apprentice, its on the governments web site i cant remeber the link now but if you google apprenticeship wages i think its on the inland revenue site actually you will get all the info from that

good luck tho

Hope he has'nt signed anything in agreeance to paying back. Tell him not to sign anything!!
Hope you can sort it out Kim!!

jude

Hubby,has just said if its a small amount they pay as insurance premium will go up.Its cheaper to pay. Still fight as he is a appprentice. Annie

Under 19 years the minimum rate for an apprentice is £2.50 per hour......see details on government website:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/employment/employees/thenationalminimumwage/dg_10027201


Mary

My son is a plumber and heating engineer, working for a small but busy company. They have public liability insurance for £3 million and also carry out H&S assesments (sp?), they are supposed to have boards for when they are working on beams but admits that they often don't use them ... so their own fault if anything happens. Make sure your son has read and signed the risk aassesments (sp? again).

The floor boards should have decking on them to make it safe to work and walk about in the area where he was working . Plus the company MUST have Public Liability Insurance

So he shouldnt have to pay

I hope you get this sorted out, and send good wishes to your son,
Regards, Liz