Contract renewal after 1st year of employment

Ewarwoowar2

Hammyman wrote: »

No it doesn't.

Yes it does

See Employment Rights Act s. 235 (2A) and here:

link

Fixed-term contracts normally end automatically when they reach their agreed end point, so there is no need for your employer to give you notice. However, your employer must still act fairly and follow any dismissal procedure if necessary. If they do not, you can make a claim of unfair dismissal.

Direct Gov web site

Quickstix

Sorry, should have clarified. I'm on a permanent contract, but my firm do use the 12 month window frequently, despite staff being permanent staff.

I had a chat with one of our HR advisors about my probation period. And as a result of 'no news being good news' and still having a job, that probation has ended.

So just to clarify. If my firm did serve a 1 week notice period to get rid of me. This week would take me beyond my 1 year or 52 weeks continuous service, so thus making me eligible for an unfair dismissal case?

My contract states as follows in the Termination section:

"During your probationary period, the period of notice to be given in writing by the Company or by you to terminate your employment is one month. If your employment is confirmed in writing at the end of your probationary period, the period of notice to be given in writing by you is three months.
The Company is obliged after your employment is confirmed in writing at the end of your probationary period, to give you three months notice in writing.
The Company reserves the right to pay salary in lieu of notice."

They also go on to state about Gross Misconduct being used without notice if it fits within the Disciplinary process on the Intranet.

This is why I'm concerned as regards not receiving probationary completion in writing. So do I have no have protection from the law if they give one weeks notice that takes me beyond 52weeks/1years service?

Thanks

KiKi

Ewarwoowar2 wrote: »

Yes it does

See Employment Rights Act s. 235 (2A) and here:

link

Direct Gov web site

What you quoted is only if the employer doesn't follow correct procedures. An FTC coming to an end doesn't constitute unfair dismissal. It's only unfair dismissal if the person on the FTC has a year's service and is dismissed during their contract period without proper procedures - not at the end date.

The OP is on a perm contract anyway.

KiKi

Uncertain

Quickstix wrote: »

"During your probationary period, the period of notice to be given in writing by the Company or by you to terminate your employment is one month. If your employment is confirmed in writing at the end of your probationary period, the period of notice to be given in writing by you is three months.
The Company is obliged after your employment is confirmed in writing at the end of your probationary period, to give you three months notice in writing.
The Company reserves the right to pay salary in lieu of notice."

They also go on to state about Gross Misconduct being used without notice if it fits within the Disciplinary process on the Intranet.

This is why I'm concerned as regards not receiving probationary completion in writing. So do I have no have protection from the law if they give one weeks notice that takes me beyond 52weeks/1years service?

Yes, if you are less than a week short of a year you are covered unless they had proper grounds to instantly dismiss without notice for gross misconduct.

If you were two weeks away you would not be covered. Although they would have to give you a month's notice (or pay you for it) only one week would count towards the magic year for UD purposes.

Probationary periods have very little meaning in law and they cannot restrict your basic legal rights. The can be used to give some additional benefits if "passed" and one such benefit would be the increase to three months notice as this is more than the law requires at this stage.

Pay in lieu of notice is a technical point. Without such a clause the firm would be in breach of contract if they wanted somebody to leave immediately even if there were to pay them. It is a fine point as there are few circumstances where somebody would want to sue for being paid but not having to work.

LittleVoice

Quickstix wrote: »

Sorry, should have clarified. I'm on a permanent contract, but my firm do use the 12 month window frequently, despite staff being permanent staff.

I had a chat with one of our HR advisors about my probation period. And as a result of 'no news being good news' and still having a job, that probation has ended.

So just to clarify. If my firm did serve a 1 week notice period to get rid of me. This week would take me beyond my 1 year or 52 weeks continuous service, so thus making me eligible for an unfair dismissal case?

My contract states as follows in the Termination section:

"During your probationary period, the period of notice to be given in writing by the Company or by you to terminate your employment is one month. If your employment is confirmed in writing at the end of your probationary period, the period of notice to be given in writing by you is three months.
The Company is obliged after your employment is confirmed in writing at the end of your probationary period, to give you three months notice in writing.
The Company reserves the right to pay salary in lieu of notice."

They also go on to state about Gross Misconduct being used without notice if it fits within the Disciplinary process on the Intranet.

This is why I'm concerned as regards not receiving probationary completion in writing. So do I have no have protection from the law if they give one weeks notice that takes me beyond 52weeks/1years service?

Thanks

If you don't get the written confirmation of completing the probationary period, decide whether you want them to confirm it. If they don't then you would still be able to leave giving them just one week's notice. After two years, the notice required from the company would increase by one year for each completed year of service.

SarEl

I realise that being a lawyer I think of sneaky things more readily than a lot of people, but has anyone considered that the OP's employer can sail through this one with ease if they are sneaky enough. The OP may have managed to get to the one year mark with statutory notice. But if the employer realises this - and they quite certainly would if it was raised on appeal, say, which the OP needs to do if they believe they have been unfairly dismissed - they simply have to sit back until April. Because by April the OP will not have two years employment, and therefore will again no longer be able to claim unfair dismissal.

Uncertain

SarEl wrote: »

Because by April the OP will not have two years employment, and therefore will again no longer be able to claim unfair dismissal.

Has this been enacted yet or is it still a proposal at this stage?

I know LazyDaisy on here has expressed the view that this will get bogged down in European equality laws as previously.

Jarndyce

Uncertain wrote: »

Has this been enacted yet or is it still a proposal at this stage?

I know LazyDaisy on here has expressed the view that this will get bogged down in European equality laws as previously.

It is a firm proposal with no indication that it will be anything other than a straightforward amendment to the ERA meaning that, as SarEl suggests, there will be people with over a years service who suddenly find themselves without protection in April.

There is no discussion as far as I can see in legal circles that there will be any kind of equality challenge this time round.

SarEl

I know that LazyDaisy has suggested this might happen again. Frankly I agree with Jarndyce that I see no prospect at the moment of much discussion on these grounds, and the world has moved on since the original changes - whether a successful challenge could or would be mounted is an unknown quantity. But for "real people" it will be moot. If the law changes that law will stand until such time as a successful challenge is won, which could be many many years down the road. Government will not suspend the law - at best they will simply pile up tribunal cases pending an outcome, and probably not even that much. So if you are very very lucky then you might get a finding of unfair dismissal in half a decade, maybe a bit less. More probably you will exist in limbo because court rulings are not generally backdated, so unless it happens to be your case in Europe, any decision made under the national laws at the time will still stand. As they did last time.