Can you get sacked if you can't do something?

[Sarah]

Eight weeks ago I was employed as your average administrative assistant. I did a HND in administration at college and as far as I am aware I should be doing word, excel, access, filing, mail etc etc.

The company I was employed by was two years old with NO administration in place. So I had to fix it as best I could. Now my boss says I have to build a second and third website for him. And having NO website building experience that was a challenge aside from the fact it doesn't come under 'administrative assistant' at all.

Then he thinks I should be making sales calls. I am not a salesman but this I kind of understand and will eventually learn.

Then he thinks I should market his company with SEO, registering in yell etc. Facebook, twitter and the like. Not really 'admin' but its understandable to a degree.

And now he has hit me with 'I want to eventually get rid of my accountant and you can do all that'. I was gobsmacked. I am not an accountant, I don't have a clue about accountancy and unless I went to do a degree on it then I think I will do it incorrectly and it will be relatively impossible.

I do ALL of this for minimum wage. Basically I run the company.
This is my first job. I have bee there for 8 weeks. I don't understand accountancy and I will never be able to do it and now I am afraid that he can sack me because I can't do it. Is this allowed?

[Austin]

Technically? Yes, he probably can. It really depends on how strongly worded your contract (if you have one) is. If it just says "to serve as an administrative assistant" then yes, he could probably fire you. The only way he couldn't is if your contract clearly outlines exactly what your duties would be.

That being said, it sounds like he is treating you like a personal slave and most employees would have quit long before now. I doubt he will fire you, since he won't be able to find someone else willing to do all of that for minimum wage.