Dismissal during probation

In all cases where dismissal is considered early advice should be sought from the Sector Personnel Officers.

Dismissal during probation can be straightforward:

unless the employee has completed at least one year’s continuous employment, the employer does not have to provide a written statement of reasons for dismissal
an employee cannot make a claim of unfair dismissal to an Employment Tribunal unless they have had been employed for more than 12 months.

However, careful consideration is still required:

an employee dismissed during the first twelve months can make a claim to an Employment Tribunal if they believe they have been subject to discrimination or any other of the ‘automatically unfair’ dismissals
an employee who is pregnant or on maternity or adoption leave has specific rights - Sector Personnel Officers should be consulted
it is 12 months continuous employment, not the length of the probation period set down in the employee’s contract, which makes the difference legally

Any issue of conduct or performance which arises during probation must be dealt with under the appropriate procedure:

Academic staff

For academics in the initial period of office, Sector Personnel Officers should be consulted.

Academic-related staff

The procedure is section 8.2 of the handbook for academic and academic-related staff

Support staff

The procedure is section 8.3 of the handbook for support staff

An employee must be given the appropriate period of notice of dismissal and notification of his or her right of appeal. Only formally authorised members of the University (normally Heads of Department and Departmental Administrators or equivalent, who have been issued with the appropriate letter of authority) may action dismissals.

For academic and academic-related staff appeal is under Statute XII, Part H

For support staff an appeal may be made under the provisions of section 8.2 of the support staff handbook