Failed probation. Can anyone help with what the notification letter should contain?

[AnonyMousely]

Hello,

I am looking for a little bit of help, I’m not sure if I’m doing really.

So I found out yesterday that I had failed the probationary period. In the meeting was my direct line manager, another manager from the company to make notes, and me. All fine.

During the meeting I was asked for comments on any point raised. I have now received a letter outlining their points, but nothing I said was included. Is this standard procedure? Why was I asked to comment if they weren’t going to include it?

Also no actual evidence was supplied other than, ‘I once said...’ is this standard? Or should evidence have been provided?

I’m in a bit of a tizz as no performance issues have been communicated to me until this point and I do not believe any of the points to be accurate. However I have been witness to regulation breaches.

I also was not able to gather evidence myself to counter these as I have been immediately placed on gardening leave and no longer have access to any systems, emails, etc.

Any help would be hugely appreciated. And I want to thank you in advance.

Companies will have their own processes. Probationary period has no legal meaning, so a specific process is not enshrined in law. As such I am not sure that trying to ascertain what is “standard” is where I would focus.

As you are on gardening leave, I assume there is no consideration to extending the probationary period? In the first two years of employment employers can terminate for any reason so long as it is not discriminatory or automatically unfair?

What did you do about the breaches you noted?

Really your employer doesnt need much evidence or reasons for failing probation

What reasons were you given and how long have you worked there

How long was your probation period?

Truth be told, I don't see any good in fighting this. The purpose of a probation period is to see if it's a fit on both sides, and it seems they feel it isn't. It's generally specified in the contract that employment can be terminated at the end of a probation period with minimal notice and without any specified reason or performance issue. It's enough that one party doesn't think it's working out. I don't think they were under any formal obligation to communicate what they have in terms of performance detail, but I imagine it protects them against claims of discrimination on a protected characteristic.

Unless you can prove, and I mean prove, that they were factually wrong in what they said about your performance and/or that you are being penalised for a protected characteristic such as age, gender, or being a whistleblower, is it really worth embroiling yourself in this?

What have they said is the next step. It's wrong that no issues were raised about your performance till now. Do you think it's just because they've decided they don't need you rather than any performance issues. It's not very satisfactory.

Thank you so much for your response. I will email HR directly for clarification.

Foolishly I didn’t do anything about the breeches for a few reasons, as there was an underlying threat of the probation period mentioned regularly and I was also shouted at by my line manager on more than one occasion, but honestly I really need the money. I also have never met my managers direct manager, and due to the set up of the company I had only actually met my direct team, all of who stated after me.

Am I able to lodge a complaint now? The most major incident occurred less than a month ago.

At this point I don’t even want the job, but I also need the reference, so I don’t really don’t know what to do.

@AnonyMousely

Thank you so much for your response. I will email HR directly for clarification.

Foolishly I didn’t do anything about the breeches for a few reasons, as there was an underlying threat of the probation period mentioned regularly and I was also shouted at by my line manager on more than one occasion, but honestly I really need the money. I also have never met my managers direct manager, and due to the set up of the company I had only actually met my direct team, all of who stated after me.

Am I able to lodge a complaint now? The most major incident occurred less than a month ago.

At this point I don’t even want the job, but I also need the reference, so I don’t really don’t know what to do.

I asked what you did about regulatory breaches because if it could be argued that your action led to termination, it could potentially have been automatically unfair dismissal. However as you didn’t, it cannot be.

I don’t think there is much point in raising issues after you have been terminated, unless you think somebody is in danger perhaps. But if it is say, a regulatory reporting error, I would leave them to it. You would possibly look petulant raising it after having your contract ended.

Essentially it was not following COVID 19 rules. They ordered a member of staff in to the office whilst awaiting a test result. This then came back positive, but I had been sat next to the staff member for 90 minutes by the time this came through.

I feel like this is quite identifiable, so I might ask for this to be deleted soon.

@AnonyMousely

Essentially it was not following COVID 19 rules. They ordered a member of staff in to the office whilst awaiting a test result. This then came back positive, but I had been sat next to the staff member for 90 minutes by the time this came through.

I feel like this is quite identifiable, so I might ask for this to be deleted soon.

I would let that drop.

There's no benefit for you in pursuing this.

You'll still get a reference confirming dates of employment. I think you are best served by looking ahead.

Sadly any reporting will not benefit you in financial or practical ways, so only do it if for moral reasons (to protect others or whistleblow on poor practice). If you are in NHS or similar then you may have more redress, I am not sure (I am currently on NHS probationary period). Just ask HR if you have any rights to appeal the process.

Thank you all. You have been so very helpful and I am incredibly great full.

I’m going to leave it, go lick my wounds and vow to never be treated in that way again.

Ah, I'm sorry - onwards and upwards. What are you going to try for?

Presumably you were not there very long? Could you just leave it off your CV? Employers are likely to be sympathetic to periods of unemployment during Covid.