An apprentice is not an employee

In common parlance, an apprentice is a trainee and not an employee. Even if he is given a stipend, it does not mean that there is a relationship of master and servant between the firm and the apprentice.

Quoting the above lines Kerala High Court in a decision made it clear that an apprentice cannot be an employee. The court was of the view that the definition of employee in various enactments such as Kerala Shops and Establishments Act or Employee States Insurance Act or any other enactment, which include an apprentice within the ambit of the definition, is only a deeming provision and a legal fiction by which the meaning of the word ‘employee’ has been extended. That, however, does not mean that in common parlance an apprentice is an employee.

Hence, in a case which is solely based on a contract and the contract does not define employee, the term will not hold same meaning as that in any enactment. The apprentice was accordingly held to be not an ‘employee.’