Probationary period

Q: My contract says that my employment would be "confirmed" at six months, but after 10 months I am about to be dismissed. Is this lawful?

A: This suggests that you were on a probationary period for the first six months of your employment and that, as the six months has passed, your employment is now on an ordinary basis.

Employees on permanent contracts can still be dismissed as long as the employer has one of the six potentially fair reasons for dismissal under section 98 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA): capability or qualifications, retirement, redundancy, conduct, to comply with a legal duty or restriction, or "some other substantial reason".

Unfortunately, with less than a year's service you are not generally entitled to bring a claim for unfair dismissal. You can only pursue a claim if your dismissal was on one of the protected grounds for which the one-year qualifying service criteria is waived (such as whistleblowing or trade union activities), or if you believe the dismissal was discriminatory on one of the outlawed grounds (sex, race, disability, sexual orientation, religion or belief, age).

Case law suggests that probationers are in a better position that other employees, in that there is an obligation on the employer to provide guidance and warnings during this period, and a failure to do so could make a dismissal unfair. However, without the necessary qualifying service that claim cannot be pursued.