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- Understanding your employer obligations
When hiring an apprentice, you have certain responsibilities and obligations as their employer. You will enter into a training contract, which is a legally binding agreement to work and train together until your apprentice has completed their training and you both agree they are competent in the skills required for their trade or vocation.
Make sure you know your rights and responsibilities before you hire an apprentice or trainee.
For more information about employer rights and responsibilities, see the following resources.
Apprentices need to train under the supervision of qualified and experienced workers. Supervision requirements are outlined in the South Australian Skills Standard.
Some apprentices or trainees need more supervision than others. To make sure that all apprentices or trainees are adequately supervised, employers must not exceed the supervision ratios that apply to them.
Each apprenticeship and traineeship has been assessed as either high, medium or low risk for supervision.
Employers are responsible for supervising and ensuring oversight and coordination of on-job training of an apprentice or trainee. On-job training must be by a skilled or qualified person in the competencies laid out in the agreed Training Plan. The work should be work relevant and appropriate to the trade or declared vocation.
If an employer delegates or assigns the responsibility of supervising or providing on-job training to any staff member (or contractor), the employer must make sure they understand and adhere to the requirements of the standard.
Help is available to resolve problems or disputes with your apprentice or trainee. For the most part, training is a positive experience for both employers and apprentices, but occasionally, disagreements or disputes may arise between you and your apprentice.
Problems in a training contract are easier to resolve when they’re dealt with as soon as possible. It’s important that employers try to resolve the issue with their apprentice directly before referring the matter further.
If you’re unable to resolve the matter with your apprentice, we can provide help to find a resolution.
Whilst we want to see all training contracts fulfilled successfully for the employer, apprentice or trainee, we recognise that sometimes contracts can be terminated when a more suitable option would be to temporarily suspend the contract.
A suspension is a temporary postponement of a training contract for a period of time agreed by both the apprentice/trainee and the employer with a view to the parties completing the training contract.
The South Australian Skills Commission will assess and either approve or decline an application for training contract suspension. It is important to know that suspension must be a last resort.
Examples of when a suspension may occur:
To apply for a suspension, an application form must be completed with information and support documents provided.
It is your responsibility as an employer, to comply with the South Australian Skills Regulations 2021, and the South Australian Skills Standards. More information can be found in the link below on what you need to know, and why.
Probationary periods are different depending on the type and level of qualification your apprentice or trainee is completing. For more information, visit South Australian Skills Standard 8.
In most cases as an employer, you provide on-the-job training to your apprentices and trainees, while the Nominated Training Organisation (NTO) provides off-the-job training.
To ensure your business is ready to give apprentices relevant on-the-job training, we need to check it has:
Employers will need to release apprentices and trainees to attend off job training, paying their wage while they’re training, and their training fees.
Employers that have been determined to be unsuitable to employ a trainee or apprentice will be listed on the Prohibited Employer Register.
To check the register, visit the SA Skills Commission website.
Get support for managing your apprentice or trainee including understanding your obligations, getting to know the training system, making changes to a training contract and more.