Probation termination

Ybe

Can an employer terminate your employment on the same day as giving you notice (and give pay in lieu of notice), before the end of your probation saying that you haven’t achieved the expected standard? The employer is currently going through a redundancy period and need to get rid of 200 staff. They previously sent a letter 6 weeks prior saying the following areas needed improvement and that my probation is being extended by 3 months to give me time to improve. But they terminated after only 1 month amongst the whole redundancy requirement. Is this lawful? 

Dakta

Others will give stronger advice but probation is usually an informal process within a company that means very little - you might get contractual benefits for passing it but legally it doesn't matter for much.

What's probably more pertinent here is your length of continuous service within the company, if it's less than 2 years they can broadly end your employment for any reason excepting of protected characteristics, i.e religion, race, disability.

So on the face of it it might be hard to fight.

Andy_L

With under 2 years  service e you have very few employment rights so, unless your contact gives you the right to not be fired before the end of your probation period (which seems unlikely) they can do this

TELLIT01

Yes they can terminate the employment.  Redundancy is not relevant to the conversation as there would be no entitlement to redundancy given the short period of employment.

Ybe

So is this effectively a sacking?  I heard through the grapevine that they pretty much did this to everyone who’s worked there less than 2 years. Everyone else is in consultation for redundancy. 

Sarahspangles

I know at the moment it feels really personal, but it’s already in the past and all you really need to focus on is how you present this to a future employer.

’Yes I worked at X for Y months and unfortunately when they went through a big restructuring those of us who had been there for less than two years were released first.  While I was there I gained experience in Z and learned a lot about problem solving.’

DullGreyGuy

Pay in lieu of notice is perfectly fine, and many people would be envious of getting PILON as they dont want to work their notice and in theory if you walked into a new job tomorrow you're getting double pay.

Getting rid of anyone with less than 2 years service is easy, the "probation" bit normally is just a step in notice periods or such but irrelevant to their ability to remove you.

Ybe

Sarahspangles said:

I know at the moment it feels really personal, but it’s already in the past and all you really need to focus on is how you present this to a future employer.

’Yes I worked at X for Y months and unfortunately when they went through a big restructuring those of us who had been there for less than two years were released first.  While I was there I gained experience in Z and learned a lot about problem solving.’

Thanks. This is good advice. 

Ybe

My boss said he was happy to give me a personal reference but I’m just a bit worried that if anyone asks for an HR reference, it might show that I was sacked or something. 

Sarahspangles

A personal reference is really useful - stay in touch with that boss eg a LinkedIn connection in case he/she also moves on.
I’ve only had an HR reference requested once and it was literally just the job title and employment dates that were given - it’s not in the interest of most employers to do more.

I don’t think a former employer would say you’d been sacked/dismissed in your scenario.  That’s more for misconduct/real incompetence.  They’ve just ended your contract in the manner that is easiest for them.  You know others are similarly affected and you’ve got pay in lieu.  If you’re in a sector where this employer is well known other employers will know what’s happened.
It probably is worth reflecting on the probation feedback you got and deciding if there is anything you can learn - maybe there are skills you need to work on, maybe the employer/role just wasn’t a good fit for you, maybe the appraiser was wrong.

But don’t spend too long looking back when that’s not the direction you’re going in.

Ybe

Sarahspangles said:

A personal reference is really useful - stay in touch with that boss eg a LinkedIn connection in case he/she also moves on.
I’ve only had an HR reference requested once and it was literally just the job title and employment dates that were given - it’s not in the interest of most employers to do more.

I don’t think a former employer would say you’d been sacked/dismissed in your scenario.  That’s more for misconduct/real incompetence.  They’ve just ended your contract in the manner that is easiest for them.  You know others are similarly affected and you’ve got pay in lieu.  If you’re in a sector where this employer is well known other employers will know what’s happened.
It probably is worth reflecting on the probation feedback you got and deciding if there is anything you can learn - maybe there are skills you need to work on, maybe the employer/role just wasn’t a good fit for you, maybe the appraiser was wrong.

But don’t spend too long looking back when that’s not the direction you’re going in.

Thanks. Really useful advice.