What Probation Means For Your Rights
You are still on probation and worried that means you have no real protection.
Probation is often misunderstood as a period with no protection at all. That is not accurate, even though it does change some of the details of a claim.
What It Means
Probation is a trial period at the start of employment, before your role is formally confirmed. It usually comes with a shorter or simpler process for ending employment than a confirmed role.
It is not, however, a period where fairness simply does not apply. An employer still generally needs a real reason connected to your conduct or performance.
Why It Matters To You
If your case reaches the Industrial Court and results in an award, your status affects the numbers. Back wages are capped at 12 months for a probationer, compared with 24 months for a confirmed employee.1
This difference makes it worth confirming your exact employment status carefully, since it changes what a successful case could actually be worth.
What Rights Do You Still Have
You can still file a claim over an unfair dismissal during probation, and the same 60-day deadline applies from your dismissal date, which you can check on the deadline calculator.
If your probation was ending soon or had already been extended repeatedly, read about confirmation to understand how that status shift is treated.
Keep any messages about your probation review or extension, since they often become relevant evidence later.
Telling us how long you had worked there and what reason you were given helps us explain how probation status affects your specific case.
Common questions
Can my employer dismiss me during probation without any reason?
A probationer still generally needs to be treated fairly, and an unfair dismissal claim under Section 20 is not automatically blocked by probationary status. The reason and process still matter.
Does probation status change what I can recover?
It can affect the back wages calculation, since a probationer's cap differs from a confirmed employee's, but it does not remove your right to challenge the dismissal itself.
Sources
- Back wages awarded by the Industrial Court are capped at 24 months for a confirmed employee and 12 months for a probationer, under the Second Schedule of the Industrial Relations Act 1967. DNH, Monetary Remedies at the Industrial Court
Keep reading
Telling us how long you had worked there and what reason you were given helps us explain how probation status affects your specific case.