A REDDITCH landscaping firm has been told by a Birmingham Employment Tribunal chairman "to put its house in order" after a director admitted not providing a contract and wage slips to a teenage trainee gardener.

Aspect Property Management, of Brockhill, sacked 18-year-old Bobby Arnold last year after complaining he was absent on 11 occasions during his six months with the firm.

Mr Arnold, of Rubery, was claiming compensation at the tribunal for unpaid holiday money and one week's notice pay.

Mr Arnold, who was represented by his father Craig, said he had been dismissed after being told there was no work - a claim denied by Neil Hodgkins who ran the firm with a partner.

Mr Arnold also claimed he was paid piecework rate of £6.25 an hour but Mr Hodgkins said he was on a set weekly wage.

Mr Hodgkins admitted, however, that his firm had not provided Mr Arnold with a contract or wage slips.

Asked by tribunal chairman David Hewitt why the firm had not provided the contract and wage slips, Mr Hodgkins replied: "We are a small company and initially we did not have the administrative resources."

The tribunal was told the firm considered Mr Arnold to be a decent worker while carrying out his first assignment for the company. It was Mr Arnold's first job since leaving college.

Mr Hewitt said the tribunal accepted Mr Hodgkins' statement that Mr Arnold's holiday pay had been included in his weekly wage and rejected the teenager's claim.

But Mr Arnold was successful in claiming a week's notice pay and was awarded £215.

Mr Hewitt told the company boss that where the lack of contract and wage slips were concerned, the firm had not been run in the proper manner.

"My advice to you is that you should put your home in order," he said.