Probation period extension due to covid-19

SA0709

I started working for my current employer last year, with my probation period due to end in April 2020.
At the beginning of March, I had a 1:1 appraisal and was told that my probation was safe and that the pay rise (written in to my contract) would come in to effect as of April pay day.
However, one week before my official probation end date, I was furloughed, and told that my probation would be extended 'until further notice' along with my pay rise.

Can my probation period be extended purely due to covid-19 and not a reason related to my performance?

Thank you in advance.

Jeremy535897

It will depend on your contract of employment.

Grumpy_chap

Yes, and, probation period or not, rights are limited in the first two years with an employer.
It is possibly not totally straight forward to process a pay-rise while furloughed, especially if the employer is not paying the top up to 100%.  Even if they are, they may feel that the extra business uncertainty means they need to be conservative.
I would take the positive of the feed-back, enjoy the break and look forward to returning fully refreshed and proving to them that you are worth that positive feed-back and the pay-rise and, hopefully, it will all be forthcoming nice and soon.

yksi

Putting the actual probation aside, your furlough pay is not your salary/waves, it's a government-backed scheme based on the rate of pay you were receiving at the end of February - you are not currently working/earning, you're receiving a furlough payment to postpone and hopefully save your job. So if your primary reason for asking is payrise-related, then as far as we can tell, you're not entitled to the payrise now. And you're not the only one, I feel your pain. It's good news that your appraisal was so good, even though obviously none of us know what the future holds. Best of luck.

SA0709

yksi said:

Putting the actual probation aside, your furlough pay is not your salary/waves, it's a government-backed scheme based on the rate of pay you were receiving at the end of February - you are not currently working/earning, you're receiving a furlough payment to postpone and hopefully save your job. So if your primary reason for asking is payrise-related, then as far as we can tell, you're not entitled to the payrise now. And you're not the only one, I feel your pain. It's good news that your appraisal was so good, even though obviously none of us know what the future holds. Best of luck.

This makes total sense regards rate of pay at Feb, thank you.
One of my biggest concerns with the probation period being extended, is that whilst still on probation, this only gives me a week's notice for termination of contract by either party, as opposed to the full month after successful probation. (I don't know if the rules change if the termination of contract is due to redundancy?)
However, as the replies above suggest, it sounds as though I need to sit it out and see what's around the corner.

Thank you for your responses.