I am the HR manager at a large manufacturing company. I have received a grievance from one of our trainee mechanics (aged 17), alleging that he has not received the national minimum wage and that this constitutes age discrimination. He is required to attend internal training, which we organise as part of our apprentice programme, outside his contracted hours and hasn’t been paid any extra money. If he wasn’t a trainee, he would be eligible for an overtime premium for this time. Both we and the employee pay 5% of salary into the company pension scheme. How do I handle it?

You will need to establish whether the employee has received the national minimum wage (NMW) or not. You should