Minimum wage

Case 5: The facts

Craig Cotton was employed as an electrical apprentice under an agreement which said his pay would be not less than the minimum wage rate. However, the National Minimum Wage regulations do not apply to apprentices, and his employer said this meant it did not have to pay him the minimum wage.

The ruling

The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the agreement had deliberately been made to ensure that apprentices were not paid less than the minimum wage. To argue otherwise, it said, would mean that there was an agreement to pay not less than a rate of pay which did not exist, and that could not be right.

The agreement made specific reference to the minimum wage, so Cotton was entitled to that rate (£3.80 per hour at the time). As he had been paid only £2.50 per hour, he was entitled to the difference.

J P Garrett Electrical Ltd v Cotton UKEAT/0547/05