Advice and Instructions

Partnerships and the employment of apprentices/trainees

Issued: 11 April 2002

• A partnership is legally defined as the relationship that exists between persons carrying on business in common with a view to making a profit. Unlike a company it is not a legal entity, but is simply an arrangement between the individuals who comprise it.
• It is a principle of law that a person who is a member of a partnership cannot be employed by that partnership. A partner cannot pay salary and wages to his/her partner(s).
• A person in a partnership cannot become an apprentice or trainee to that business.
• Where an application to establish a training agreement between the partners of a business is received the applicants are to be advised that they are unable, by law, to enter into the agreement. It may be suggested to the parties that should they establish an incorporated body then a person may be both a director and an employee and that the parties should seek their own advice with regard to such arrangements or that the apprentice is employed through a Group Training arrangement.

Note: It is not appropriate to ask a partner who is in a business partnership to step outside that partnership and make an application as a single legal entity.

Approved by the Commissioner for Vocational Training