Redditch teen takes Bromsgrove firm to tribunal (From Bromsgrove Advertiser)

Redditch teen takes Bromsgrove firm to tribunal

8:30am Monday 6th February 2012 in Local

A REDDITCH teenager is to receive £300 unpaid wages after experiencing setbacks with a Bromsgrove firm in his first job as a motor technician apprentice under a Government scheme for the unemployed.

But he was denied a compensation claim for unfair dismissal.

Kirk Gretton, 16, of Napton Close, Matchborough, had been employed by Bromsgrove Tyres & Exhausts Ltd as an apprentice on a probationary period, Birmingham Employment Tribunal was told.

But Kirk said he had an accident – not at work – causing him back trouble and then became ill, causing him to have sick leave.

“I was signed off for two weeks and told by my GP to go on light duties when I returned to work,” he said. “But at one point I was sent home because there were not enough light duties for me.

“I was paid £100 a week, worked from 9.30am to 5pm and attended college to help my training as an apprentice,” he said. “But I was eventually dismissed from the firm.”

He said he was not paid all the money due to him – prompting his claim for unpaid wages.

Paul Newby, who runs the Bromsgrove firm, said he had agreed to pay Kirk and had sent him a cheque. But Kirk, who attended the tribunal with his father Allan, said he had not received it.

“Kirk lost a lot of time at work because of the accident and illness,” said Mr Newby.

Tribunal judge Vera Jones said Kirk was entitled to his unpaid wages but would not allow his compensation claim for unfair dismissal because he had not been employed for a year or more.

Allan Gretton said after the hearing that his son had joined the firm under a Government scheme aimed at helping young unemployed people find a job, adding his son hoped to carry on with the college course.